Edith Schiele with Her Dog, Lord, 1917

“[…] how is the good dog, Lord, doing?”, Schiele asked his wife Edith in a letter dated 14th November 1916. “Lordi is looking for you everywhere, whenever I ask him, ‘where is your master’, he starts whining, you see, he misses you, too”, Edith replied. Shortly after Egon Schiele’s (1890–1918) wedding with Edith Harms (1893–1918) on 17th June 1915, they were separated for some time owing to the turmoil of war and Schiele’s deployment. Their dog likely spent most of the time with Edith, though letters and entries into Schiele’s war diary show that he took the dog on excursions and walks in his spare time, for instance in the environs of Mühling. Occasionally, Edith’s mother Josefine Harms (1850–1939) looked after their faithful companion. Sitting on a chair in the artist’s Hietzing studio, and cuddling Lord, Edith is smiling gently and contentedly into the camera. Egon Schiele created only a few works on paper which show Edith with Lord; a rare exception in his oeuvre is a 1918 solo portrait of the dog, which is kept in a private collection. It demonstrates the close relationship the couple had with their pet.

KJ, 2023