121) Wally Neuzil

Wally (Walburga) Neuzil (1894 - 1917). Model and lover of Austrian painter Egon Schiele (1890 - 1918).

Neuzil met the Austrian artist Egon Schiele in 1911; she was 17 and he was 21. The circumstances under which they met are unknown, although it has been suggested that they were introduced by Klimt, of whom Schiele was a protégé and Neuzil was a model.

Schiele and Neuzil became lovers, and Neuzil soon moved into Schiele's Vienna home, and over the next four years modelled regularly for his paintings; they were also lovers for much of this period. Neuzil featured in several of Schiele's most well-known paintings, including Portrait of Wally (1912), Wally Neuzil in Black Stockings (1912), and Wally in Red Blouse with Raised Knees (1913).

In 1914, Schiele set up a studio in Hietzing in Vienna's suburbs, where he first met the sisters Edith and Adéle Harms. In 1915, Schiele became engaged to Edith, and informed Neuzil of his intentions at the Café Eichberger. Evidence at the time suggested Schiele intended to carry on some relationship with Neuzil despite his marriage; a letter he wrote to Neuzil mentioned them continuing to holiday together without Edith. However, Neuzil ended the relationship immediately after Schiele announced his engagement, and the two did not see each other again. After Neuzil's departure, Schiele painted Death and the Maiden in response to the end of their relationship.

Following the end of her relationship with Schiele, Neuzil trained as a nurse and found employment in various military hospitals in Vienna. By 1917, she was working in Sinj in Dalmatia, where she died of scarlet fever. 

- "In 1939, Egon Schiele's celebrated painting "Portrait of Wally" (1912), a beguiling portrait of the Austrian artist's red-haired mistress Walburga ('Wally') Neuzil, was seized by a Nazi from Lea Bondi..."
http://www.coveringmedia.com/…/20…/05/portrait-of-wally.html
 

- "In the rich assortment of volumes filled with Schiele reproductions, the red-haired radiance of Wally dominates." http://juddtully.net/criticism/egon-schiele/

 
 
- "... his redheaded lover Wally Neuzil; ..." http://www.nytimes.com/…/egon-schieles-women-at-galerie-st-…

 

Wally Neuzil in Black Stockings

 

Wally in Red Blouse with Raised Knees

Portrait of Wally