Between two bars with hatching, we see a black, undulating mass, which in places boasts anthropomorphic traits – we can discern heads and legs. This sketch by Egon Schiele (1890–1918) could have been a preliminary drawing for the now lost painting
Resurrection (Graves) (Kallir P251), an original-size reproduction of which is kept at the Leopold Museum. The painting shows a top view of two bent figures lying in graves, the position of the bodies and their twisted limbs resembling the black mass in the sketch, although the draft shows the two figures next to one another, while they appear one above the other in the painting. Along with the composition of this sketch, the other depictions in the sketchbook, too, strengthen this assumption. The page belongs to a sketchbook dated 1912–14, which in 1913 mentions a painting with the title
Return to God, which was sold to H. F. Hauer. This entry likely refers to Franz Hauer (1867–1914), who bought the work
Resurrection (Graves) (Kallir P251) from the artist in 1913.
LVD, 2024
