# Portrait of Wally Neuzil > Egon Schiele - 1912 > Canonical HTML: https://iconotheca.com/artworks/egon-schiele/schiele-portrait-of-wally-neuzil/ > Published by Servola Systems GmbH. Last verified: 2026-09-03 ## Tombstone - **Artist:** Egon Schiele - **Date:** 1912 - **Medium:** Oil on wood panel - **Dimensions:** 32.7 x 39.8 cm - **Object type:** Painting - **Period:** Austrian, twentieth century - **Current location:** Leopold Museum, Vienna. Owned by the Leopold Museum Privatstiftung, a private foundation, not by the Republic of Austria. - **Attribution:** accepted ## Summary A panel a little over thirty centimetres high that a United States court found to have been stolen from a Jewish dealer in Vienna in 1939, that passed through an American restitution office, an Austrian federal monuments authority, the wrong family, a national gallery and a private collector without any of them recording the theft, and that is today owned outright by the museum which was sued over it. The Leopold Museum paid the estate of Lea Bondi Jaray nineteen million dollars in July 2010. The painting did not move. It hangs in Vienna with a label the settlement obliges the museum to keep.This is the object that produced Austria's Art Restitution Act of 1998, and the object that act does not cover. It is also the clearest demonstration in the corpus that a restitution claim can be won on every finding of fact and still end with the claimant holding money rather than a picture. ## Provenance Every link carries a grade. `documented` means a cited source supports it, `disputed` means the identification is argued but not established, `unknown` means we have no owner for that span and have not bridged it. - **1912** Egon Schiele `[documented]` (origin) Painted in 1912 and inscribed EGON SCHIELE, 1912. One of a pendant pair with the Self-Portrait with Chinese Lantern Plant. - **undated** Emil Toepfer, Vienna `[documented]` (ownership) First owner in the provenance printed by Otto Kallir in his 1966 catalogue raisonne and the only early owner retained in Rudolf Leopold's 1972 book. No dates are published for his tenure. - **undated** Richard Lanyi, Vienna `[documented]` (ownership) Second owner in the 1966 Kallir provenance. Dropped from Leopold's 1972 printed chain and restored in the museum's 1995 catalogue. No dates are published. - **by 1925-1938 or 1939** Lea Bondi Jaray, Vienna `[documented]` (ownership) Acquired some time before 1925 and named as owner in Otto Kallir's 1930 catalogue. The court found it was her personal property, kept in her apartment and not stock of the Wurthle Gallery. She emigrated to England in April 1939. - **1938 or 1939-1945** Friedrich Welz, Salzburg `[disputed]` (seizure) The Government and the Estate contended that Welz, a Nazi party member who had Aryanised the Wurthle Gallery, came to Bondi's apartment in 1939 on the eve of her escape, demanded the picture and paid nothing. The Leopold Museum contended that she had sold it to him with the gallery in 1938 for 200 Reichsmarks. The court found no genuine dispute that the painting was stolen and remained stolen. The competing accounts were never tried. - **1945-1947** United States forces in Austria `[documented]` (wartime custody) United States forces occupied Austria in May 1945, arrested Welz, held him about two years and seized his property, including works taken from Bondi and works acquired from the collection of Dr Heinrich Rieger, who died at Theresienstadt in about 1942. - **1947-1950** Bundesdenkmalamt, Vienna, as custodian `[documented]` (transfer in error) Released with thirteen other paintings on or about 4 December 1947 under a receipt in which the BDA agreed to hold them as custodians pending determination of the lawful owners. The schedule names three Schieles, all described as bought by Welz from the Rieger collection; this painting is on none of them by an identifying name. An American officer flagged the discrepancy in writing in June 1948 and no correction followed. - **1950** Heirs of Dr Heinrich Rieger `[documented]` (restitution in error) The Austrian Ministry of Finance consented on 10 May 1950 to restitution of paintings including 'Portrait of His Wife' to the Rieger heirs, whose agent collected them on 7 July 1950. This panel went with them without being named. It had never belonged to Rieger, and the Rieger family has stated that it never did. - **1950-1954** Osterreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna `[documented]` (purchase) Bought from the Rieger heirs under a contract of 27 December 1950 covering eleven pictures. The painting is not named in the contract or in the ministerial approval, but the gallery's own inspection notes of 30 November 1950 identify item three as Vally Neuzil aus Wien and Vally aus Krumau. From that date the Belvedere's staff knew in writing which picture it was. - **1954-1994** Dr Rudolf Leopold, Vienna `[documented]` (exchange) Acquired 1 September 1954 by exchange, giving the Belvedere his Schiele known as Rainerbub. Approved by the Belvedere's exchange commission on 12 July 1954 and by the Ministry of Education. He had met Bondi in London in 1953, had been asked by her to recover the picture, and did not tell her he had acquired it. He sought no documentation of the earlier restitution. The court held he never acquired title, by purchase in good faith or by prescription, because his investigation was negligent at best. - **1994-present** Leopold Museum Privatstiftung, Vienna `[documented]` (sale to the foundation) Rudolf Leopold sold his collection to the newly created private foundation on 8 August 1994, becoming its museological director for life with the right to appoint half the board. The foundation received 2.2 billion schillings of Austrian public money for the collection. Because it is a private foundation, the Austrian Art Restitution Act of 4 December 1998 does not apply to its holdings. - **1999-2010** United States government custody, title unresolved `[documented]` (seizure and civil forfeiture) Seized in New York on a federal warrant in September 1999 and held for eleven years while United States v. Portrait of Wally proceeded. Title was never adjudicated; the case ended in settlement on 19 July 2010. - **2010-present** Leopold Museum Privatstiftung, Vienna, title confirmed `[documented]` (settlement) The foundation paid the Estate of Lea Bondi Jaray USD 19 million; the Estate released its claim and the forfeiture action was dismissed with prejudice. This is a purchase of a claim, not a restitution: the object never left the museum's possession except for a short exhibition in New York on the way home. The foundation is bound to display a permanent label recording the court's findings. ## Auction results Hammer and buyer's premium are stated separately. Where a source conflates them this record says so. - **** , - This painting has never been offered at public auction and is not for sale. The two prices attached to it are a litigation valuation of more than USD 2 million in 2002 and the USD 19 million paid in 2010 for the release of a claim, which is the price of a title and not of a picture. The row below is a DIFFERENT painting, included because it is how the settlement was financed. - **2011-06-22** Sotheby's, London, Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale, Sotheby's sale number L11006, per the house's own sale page ('Sale Number: L11006', '22 June 2011 - London', '34 lots')., lot 9, per the house's own lot and sale pages. - Estimate: GBP 22,000,000 - 30,000,000 (hammer basis, fees excluded). CONFIRMED VERBATIM this run: the Sotheby's lot page prints '22,000,000 - 30,000,000 GBP'. The record's note that Sotheby's quotes estimates exclusive of the buyer's premium while publishing results inclusive of it is confirmed by the pairing of that estimate with a login-gated result. - Hammer: Not separately published; derived at approximately GBP 22.0 m from the premium-inclusive total on the United Kingdom buyer's premium scale then in force. An arithmetic reading that would sharpen this to an exact figure was considered and not applied - see the note. - With premium: GBP 24.7 m with fees, about USD 39.8 m. UNCHANGED and NOT confirmed by the house. The lot page says 'Log in to view results' and the sale page says 'Log in to view sale total', so this figure rests on its existing source and must not be described as house-published. - NOT THIS PAINTING. This is Schiele's Hauser mit bunter Waesche (Vorstadt II) of 1914, sold by the Leopold Museum to clear the borrowing it took on to pay the Wally settlement, included as an auction record for the artist. Sotheby's lot page was read in full: description, provenance, a nine-entry exhibition history and a long literature list, though the result and sale total sit behind a login that was not crossed. A sharper reading was considered and not applied: on the United Kingdom buyer's premium scale generally understood to have been in force at Sotheby's in 2011 (25 per cent to GBP 25,000, 20 per cent from GBP 25,001 to GBP 500,000, 12 per cent above GBP 500,000), a hammer of exactly GBP 22,000,000, the low estimate, produces a premium-inclusive total of GBP 24,681,250, which rounds to the reported GBP 24.7 million; the record's own derivation from the rounded total gives GBP 22,016,741 on the same scale, and both round to 'approximately GBP 22.0 million', so the record is not wrong. The suggestion that the picture sold on a single bid at the low estimate is attractive but unproven: the calculation rests on a premium schedule not read off a printed Sotheby's chart for June 2011, and the GBP 24.7 million it is reconciled against is itself a rounded press figure, so two roundings would be used to recover an exact number. It stays as a derived approximation until that chart is read. The house separately publishes the comparandum's full ownership chain, verbatim: 'Heinrich Boehler, Vienna & St. Moritz (acquired from the artist in June 1914) / Mabel Boehler, Lugano (wife of the above; by descent from the above in 1940) / Rudolf Leopold, Vienna (acquired from the above in 1952) / Leopold Museum, Vienna (acquired in 1994)' - documenting, from the selling house, how the picture the Leopold sold to clear the Wally settlement borrowing came into Leopold's hands, connective tissue between the two objects that belongs in the record's narrative rather than in a price field. ## Exhibitions - Egon Schiele: The Leopold Collection, Vienna, Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1997-1998 - Portrait of Wally, shown before its return to Vienna under the settlement, Museum of Jewish Heritage, New York, 2010 ## Open questions - Did Welz take the painting from Bondi's apartment in 1939 without payment, or buy it with the gallery in 1938 for 200 Reichsmarks? The court found it stolen either way, but the two accounts were never tested at trial and the settlement means they never will be. - Which Schiele work was the 'Portrait of His Wife' that the American restitution division believed it was releasing to the Bundesdenkmalamt on 4 December 1947? The Government argued it was a drawing rather than a painting and did not identify it; the Museum argued it was this panel. Neither side produced the object. - What did the Bundesdenkmalamt do with Lieutenant Colonel McKee's letter of June 1948 asking whether Vally from Krumau was Schiele's wife? The office copy carries a handwritten note naming its director. No answer is in the record. - On what evidence did Rudolf Leopold insert Heinrich Rieger into the printed provenance in 1995? No document between 1938 and 1950 places the painting in the Rieger collection and the Rieger family has stated it never was. - What did the Bondi estate's nineteen million dollars amount to after eleven years of litigation costs, and how was it distributed among the nine individual claimants named in the caption? Neither figure has been published. - Would a jury have found that Leopold knew? The single question left for trial was never answered, and the man whose state of mind it concerned died four weeks before it was to be tried. ## Sources - [1] United States v. Portrait of Wally, a Painting by Egon Schiele, 663 F. Supp. 2d 232 (S.D.N.Y. 30 September 2009), No. 99 Civ. 9940 (LAP), Preska C.J. Full opinion text, including the parties' joint statement of undisputed facts, the 1947-1950 restitution correspondence, the 1954 exchange papers and the 1957 Hunna correspondence. PRIMARY. - [2] United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, press release 10-223, 'United States Announces $19 Million Settlement in Case of Painting Stolen by Nazi', 20 July 2010. PRIMARY. - [3] ArThemis case file, Art-Law Centre, University of Geneva, 'Portrait of Wally - United States and Estate of Lea Bondi and Leopold Museum', with the chronology, the statutory basis and the settlement terms including the permanent label. - [4] Lexikon der oesterreichischen Provenienzforschung, entry 'Leopold Museum', on the 1994 foundation, the sum paid, the museum's status as a private foundation and the inapplicability of the 1998 Art Restitution Act to its holdings. - [5] Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Wien, press statement 'Leopold Museum-Privatstiftung und Restitution', 23 July 2010, distributed by OTS. Names the four works identified as Nazi loot by the independent expert committee and rejects the proposal to auction Hauser am Meer and split the proceeds. PRIMARY. - [6] Leopold Museum, press release 'Abschluss der Vergleichsverhandlungen im Fall Jenny Steiner', 14 June 2012, on the settlements of May 2011 and June 2012 and the residual proceeds of the Hauser mit bunter Waesche sale. PRIMARY. - [7] Kunstdatenbank, 'The Art Restitution Law of 1998', on the January 1998 New York confiscations and the passage of the Federal Act on the Restitution of Art Objects on 4 December 1998. - [9] The Art Newspaper, 'Egon Schiele: a buyer's guide', 27 March 2019, for the record price of Hauser mit bunter Waesche (Vorstadt II) at GBP 24.7 m against an estimate of GBP 22-30 m, and for the statement that pre-sale estimates exclude fees while results include them. - [10] Commission for Looted Art in Europe, news report 'Portrait of Wally case settled for $19m', on the settlement terms, the release of the claim, the Museum of Jewish Heritage exhibition and the permanent signage obligation. - [11] Wikipedia, 'Egon Schiele', TERTIARY, used only for the biography: dates, the Klimt relationship, the Neulengbach arrest, the marriage, the 1918 Secession and the catalogues raisonnes. Flagged for replacement with Jane Kallir, Egon Schiele: The Complete Works (1990). - [12] Wikipedia, 'Portrait of Wally', TERTIARY, used only for the inventory number and the published dimensions, which differ slightly from the court record. Flagged for replacement with the Leopold Museum catalogue entry. - [13] sothebys.com, web page cited for the Sotheby's, London sale of 2011-06-22. - [14] sothebys.com, web page cited for the Sotheby's, London sale of 2011-06-22. - [15] Wally-Neuzil-Gesellschaft / Wally-Neuzil-Society, "About Wally Neuzil", the specialist body on her life, headed by the provenance researcher Robert Holzbauer. For the parish register of Tattendorf, the parents, the death of scarlet fever at Sinj on 25 December 1917 and the burial in St Francis Cemetery on 27 December per the death book of Sinj, and for the doubt cast on the story that she modelled for Gustav Klimt. --- Images on this record are public domain or CC0 and are hosted by us. 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