Lot 217 Dα

This work was commissioned from Emil Orlik by the industrialist and art collector Gustav Schütz, and it depicts his eldest son, Paul, at the age of four. Gustav Schütz was a partner in his family's business in Prague. He pursued his pronounced artistic interests as an art collector, particularly of Gothic sculpture, and as a patron of visual artists, and he also personally worked in sculpture. Paul J. Schütz, who is portrayed here, would later pursue a very successful career in Vienna as a businessman and as director of the bank Erste Österreichische Spar-Casse; in addition, like his father, he was a prominent art patron, and he made a name for himself as a poet under the pseudonym Konrad Paulis.