Young Girl, Nude (Roman Bath), c. 1875

While there was a great demand for nude depictions in the 19th century, Anton Romako’s (1832–1889) oeuvre untypically only comprises this small work of that genre, which he created during his 20-year stay in Italy. Though a singular occurrence in his work, the artist submitted the painting for the annual exhibition of the Vienna Künstlerhaus in 1874 with the title Roman Bath. Executed in a small format on wood, the work shows a nude young girl. Romako painted the body in a dynamic turn, making its individual parts appear almost bent. The monochrome but nuanced background gives the impression of the model floating in the space. Only the upper right corner reveals a decorative capital which spatially anchors the scene and gives the work its title. Romako used the “nymphet” type of figure, which only became omnipresent in art after 1900, and was frequently made the central theme of their art by artists including Egon Schiele (1890–1918) and Oskar Kokoschka (1886–1980).

AS, 2021

Additional Text according to Settlement, June 2011:
« Dr. Oskar Reichel (1869–1943) was a doctor, merchant and art collector. After 1938, he had to give up the painting due to his persecution as a Jew. Rudolf Leopold acquired the work from the art dealer Wolfgang Gurlitt in the early 1950s and contributed it to the Leopold Museum-Privatstiftung in 1994.
Since the work is undoubtedly the property of the Leopold Museum-Privatstiftung, but was apparently seized from Oskar Reichel, it was important to the Leopold Museum to find a joint solution in the sense of a fair and just procedure with the legal successor to Oskar Reichel. »