When Gardeners Cut Back Some Overgrown Ivy, They Solved A Decades-Old Art Mystery
In a picturesque Italian city south of Milan, two gardeners are trimming ivy from an elegant red brick building. But as they tend to the garden of Piacenza’s modern art gallery, they stumble across something incredible. And in moments, they have solved one of the art world’s most enduring mysteries. Yes, unbelievably they have located a famous lost painting by Gustav Klimt.
Painted more than 100 years ago, Portrait of a Lady is a fine example of the Austrian artist’s foray into Expressionism. But back in 1997, it disappeared from the gallery that had housed it for more than seven decades. And even though a number of clues teased investigators over the years, its whereabouts were an ongoing mystery.
As the years ticked by, Portrait of a Lady became famous as the second most-wanted missing painting in the world. In fact, only Caravaggio’s Nativity with St. Francis and St. Lawrence was more sought after. So how, after more than two decades, did two gardeners accidentally succeed where Italian police could not?
Born in the Austrian Empire in July 1862 Klimt developed an interest in painting from an early age. Today, he is considered a symbolist artist, although much of his work incorporated elements of Art Nouveau. And in 1897 he became one of the founding members of the famous Vienna Secession movement.
Some eight years after parting ways with the Vienna Secession, Klimt began work on a portrait of an unknown subject. Painted in an Expressionist style, it depicts a dark-haired woman glancing over her left shoulder. And at just 24 by 22 inches, it is far smaller than some of the artist’s more famous pieces.
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