Ernest Wahliss – Portrait Of Franz Liszt

Circa 1890 - Glazed terracotta plaque - Signed and dated on the back

Ernst Wahliss was a renowned 19th-century Austrian artist. A well-known collaborator with Karl Klaus and other artists, Wahliss left his mark on Vienna’s art history from the late 1880s onward. A prosperous merchant, he had established himself as the leading retailer of porcelain and ceramics in Vienna. Beginning in 1863, he ran a ceramics shop in Vienna; its rapid international success enabled him to open stores in major European cities such as London and to supply ceramics of the highest quality to numerous European royal families. In 1894, Ernst Wahliss acquired Alfred Stellmacher’s factory in Turn-Teplitz, Bohemia (now in the Czech Republic), and began producing decorative ceramics under the name “Ernst Wahliss Kunst, Porzellan und Fayence Fabrik.” Known for the quality of its art ceramics, the Wahliss workshop distinguished itself during the Jugendstil period with imposing decorative pieces, busts, and reliefs depicting mythological figures or illustrious personalities.

Our plaque perfectly illustrates the transition from the naturalism of portraiture to the sinuous and geometric lines of Art Nouveau. Depicting the famous Hungarian Romantic pianist and composer Franz Liszt (1811–1886), the high-relief profile facing right is rendered with great expressive realism, highlighting his characteristic features: his long hair combed back, pronounced expression lines, and aquiline nose. He is wearing clerical attire reminiscent of his Franciscan period, during which his contemporaries nicknamed him “Abbé Liszt.”