![]() ![]() He bought Klimt's painting The Golden Knight from the Vienna Secession in 1903, and in 1905 commissioned the artist to paint a portrait of his youngest daughter, Margarethe ('Gretl'), which was shown on an easel in the so-called Red Drawing Room in the Alleegasse. ![]() ![]() Encouraged by his oldest daughter Hermine ('Mining'), he became a supporter of Gustar Klimt and his circle. Having previously acquired the work of academic artists for his grandiose 19th-century 'palais' in Vienna's Alleegasse, together with antique furniture and tapestries, he now turned his attention to the avant-garde. For the remainder of his life he indulged his private interests, including building up his art collection. ![]() During that time Wittgenstein became one of the richest men in the Habsburg empire, so rich that he was able to retire from his industrial and business enterprises in his early fifties, transferring his fortune into property and foreign investments. The life of the steel magnate Karl Wittgenstein-born in 1847, he died in 1913-coincided almost exactly with the 68 years that Emperor Franz Josef ruled Austria-Hungary. The House of Wittgenstein: A Family at Warīloomsbury, 20 /Doubleday, $28.95 ![]()
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