Ernst Klimt (3 January 1864 in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

– 9 December 1892 in Vienna) was an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

history painter History painting is a genre in painting defined by its subject matter rather than any artistic style or specific period. History paintings depict a moment in a narrative story, most often (but not exclusively) Greek and Roman mythology and Bible ...

and decorative painter. He was a younger brother of the better-known artist

Gustav Klimt Gustav Klimt (July 14, 1862 – February 6, 1918) was an Austrian symbolist painter and one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Secession movement. Klimt is noted for his paintings, murals, sketches, and other objets d'art. Klimt's prim ...

Biography

He was the third of seven children born to the gold engraver, Ernst Klimt (1834–1892), originally from

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...

, and was raised under very modest circumstances. In 1877, aged only thirteen, he became a student at the

University of Applied Arts A university of applied sciences (UAS), nowadays much less commonly called a polytechnic university or vocational university, is an institution of higher education and sometimes research that provides vocational education and grants academic de ...

, where his older brother, Gustav, had been studying for a year. They were both students of the decorative painter and engraver,

Ferdinand Laufberger Ferdinand Julius Wilhelm Laufberger (16 February 1829, Mariaschein – 16 July 1881, Vienna) was an Austrian painter and etcher. Biography Laufberger trained at both the Academy of Fine Arts, Prague, and the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna. He i ...

, and would become his assistants on several projects. He also introduced them to

Hans Makart Hans Makart (28 May 1840 – 3 October 1884) was a 19th-century Austrian academic history painter, designer, and decorator. Makart was a prolific painter whose ideas significantly influenced the development of visual art in Austria-Hungary, Ger ...

, who employed them for what is now known as the "", celebrating the silver anniversary of Emperor

Franz Joseph I Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I (german: Franz Joseph Karl, hu, Ferenc József Károly, 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the other states of the Habsburg monarchy from 2 December 1848 until his ...

and his wife, Elisabeth. After Laufberger's death, in 1881 he, Gustav, and their friend from school,

Franz Matsch Franz Josef Karl Edler von Matsch (16 September 1861, in Vienna – 5 October 1942, in Vienna), also known as Franz Matsch, was an Austrian painter and sculptor in the Jugendstil style. Along with Gustav and Ernst Klimt, he was a member of the Ma ...

, founded the "Künstler-Compagnie" and, two years later, opened their own studio. Among other things, their company created curtains and ceiling paintings for theaters in Reichenberg, Karlsbad and

Fiume Rijeka ( , , ; also known as Fiume hu, Fiume, it, Fiume ; local Chakavian: ''Reka''; german: Sankt Veit am Flaum; sl, Reka) is the principal seaport and the third-largest city in Croatia (after Zagreb and Split). It is located in Primor ...

. They also produced ceiling paintings for the

Hermesvilla Hermesvilla is a palace in the Lainzer Tiergarten in Vienna, a former hunting area for the Habsburg nobility. Emperor Franz Joseph I gave it to his wife Empress Elisabeth (nicknamed "Sisi"), and he called it the "castle of dreams.“ The name o ...

and

fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...

es for the stairwell of the new

Burgtheater The Burgtheater (literally:"Castle Theater" but alternatively translated as "(Imperial) Court Theater"), originally known as '' K.K. Theater an der Burg'', then until 1918 as the ''K.K. Hofburgtheater'', is the national theater of Austria in Vi ...

. In 1890, they helped complete

paintings in the staircase of the Kunsthistorisches Museum The staircase of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna is equipped with spandrel and intercolumniation paintings by Gustav Klimt, Ernst Klimt and Franz Matsch, lunette pictures by Hans Makart and a ceiling painting by Mihály Munkácsy. His ...

, which had been left unfinished by Makart, several years before. Ernst's largest solo commissions were at Mondsee Castle and

Peleș Castle Peleș Castle ( ro, Castelul Peleș ) is a Neo-Renaissance castle in the Carpathian Mountains, near Sinaia, in Prahova County, Romania, on an existing medieval route linking Transylvania and Wallachia, built between 1873 and 1914. Its inaugura ...

in Romania. In 1891, he married Helene Flöge (1871-1936), the sister of Gustav's friend, Emilie Flöge, and they had a daughter; also named Helene. He died unexpectedly, from an inflammation of the

pericardium The pericardium, also called pericardial sac, is a double-walled sac containing the heart and the roots of the great vessels. It has two layers, an outer layer made of strong connective tissue (fibrous pericardium), and an inner layer made of ...

. Gustav took care of his wife and daughter and completed his unfinished paintings. His company was officially dissolved, but Gustav maintained professional contact with Matsch until 1900. He was interred at the , next to his father, who had died only a few months earlier.

Sources

* * Alfred Weidinger,

Agnes Husslein Agnes Husslein, also Agnes Husslein-Arco, (born 22 May 1954) is an Austrian art historian and art manager. Life Husslein was born the daughter of Felicitas (''née'' Boeckl) and Carl Heinrich Arco in Vienna (1920–1978).

External links

*
Entry for Ernst Klimt
on the

Union List of Artist Names The Union List of Artist Names (ULAN) is a free online database of the Getty Research Institute using a controlled vocabulary, which by 2018 contained over 300,000 artists and over 720,000 names for them, as well as other information about artist ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Klimt, Ernst 19th-century painters of historical subjects 19th-century Austrian painters 19th-century male artists Austrian male painters Artists from Vienna Austrian people of Czech descent 1864 births 1892 deaths

Ernst Ernst is both a surname and a given name, the German, Dutch, and Scandinavian form of Ernest. Notable people with the name include: Surname * Adolf Ernst (1832–1899) German botanist known by the author abbreviation "Ernst" * Anton Ernst (1975-) ...

Gustav Klimt