Description
Egon Schiele – Portrait of Herbert Rainer, 1910
This Egon Schiele work, Portrait of Herbert Rainer, is our hand-drawn copy in graphite on paper of a drawing from 1910. The original is held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
What the sheet shows
The sheet shows a boy, drawn to the waist and turned slightly to one side, looking straight out at the viewer. His cropped hair, eyes and mouth are carried by a few thin pencil strokes, and the loose smock with its wide collar by a single long contour. Both hands are drawn low in the foreground with the fingers spread; the background is left as bare paper.
The original’s medium and format
The original is a drawing on paper — the museum records it as “Graphite on paper” — measuring 31.8 × 45.1 cm (width × height) (inv. 1984.433.287ab).
Where it is
The drawing is today in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, which received it through the Scofield Thayer bequest (inv. 1984.433.287ab). The Belvedere in Vienna, which holds the oil portrait of the same boy, records the surname as Reiner.
Our hand-drawn copy
Our copy is drawn by hand in graphite on paper, the same medium as the original, and made in the size you choose. Like our paintings, it is made entirely by hand. We send you a photograph of the finished work for approval before it ships.
Frequently asked questions
Who was Herbert Rainer?
He was the son of the renowned orthopaedic specialist Max Reiner, who in 1910 commissioned the young Schiele to portray his five-year-old son. The Belvedere in Vienna spells the family name Reiner, while the Metropolitan Museum records the drawing as Portrait of Herbert Rainer.
When did Schiele draw Portrait of Herbert Rainer?
In 1910, when Schiele himself was twenty. In the same year he painted the boy in oils as well; that portrait is now in the Belvedere in Vienna.
What does Portrait of Herbert Rainer show?
A boy seen to the waist and turned slightly to one side, looking straight out at the viewer. His loose smock with its wide collar is drawn with a single long contour, both hands sit low in the foreground with the fingers spread, and the background is bare paper.
What technique did Schiele use for Portrait of Herbert Rainer?
Graphite on paper, as the Metropolitan Museum records it. The upright sheet measures 31.8 × 45.1 cm, and the cropped hair, eyes and mouth are carried by only a few thin pencil strokes.
Where is Portrait of Herbert Rainer today?
In the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, under inventory number 1984.433.287ab. It came to the museum with the bequest of the American collector Scofield Thayer, who died in 1982.
Who was Scofield Thayer?
Scofield Thayer (1889–1982) was an American editor who ran the literary magazine The Dial in the 1920s. From 1921 he lived in Vienna for more than two years, where he was psychoanalysed by Sigmund Freud and bought works by Klimt, Schiele and other artists. He left his art collection to the Metropolitan Museum, which received it after his death in 1982.
