Reclining Baby, Bedded on a Cushion. Study for Baby, 1917

This drawing was created as a direct preliminary study for the painting Baby. Gustav Klimt (1862–1918) started to work on this painting on 11th August 1917 and exhibited it already in September 1917 at an exhibition in Stockholm. This work process was unusually fast for Klimt. The present study was likely created not much earlier. Elements such as the direct gaze of the infant, captured from a slight bottom view, the position of the right hand and the drapery of the dress colored with crayons, were all transferred into the painting. However, Alice Strobl did not exclude the possibility that this drawing of a baby could have been created in connection with the painting The Bride created at the same time. This latter painting does indeed also feature the face of an infant surrounded by drapery, though its eyes are closed and its hands are not visible. A notable feature of this study is the block signature, placed in a prominent position, which suggests that Klimt had found a buyer for this drawing.

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