/internal/media/dispatcher/148283/fullJosef Lewinsky as Carlos in Clavigo1895[Gustav Klimt]Gustav KlimtOil on canvas Klimt depicts the court actor Josef Lewinsky as Carlos in Goethe’s tragedy, performing on stage. The surrounding scene is shrouded in darkness, revealing only the actor’s pale face, collar, and cuffs. An antique tripod frames the scene on the right, emitting smoke from which a laughing woman holding a mask emerges. Hovering above her is Dionysus, the god of wine, to whom the world’s first theater was dedicated. Klimt’s painting was commissioned by the Gesellschaft für vervielfältigende Kunst (Society for Reproducing Art) to illustrate the book Das k. k. Hofburgtheater seit seiner Begründung (The Imperial and Royal Hofburg Theater since Its Foundation), which documented the history of Viennese theater. The painter thus placed the Hofburgtheater in the tradition of the ancient Greek theater.Paintinghttps://sammlungtest.belvedere.at/objects/6234/rdf