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lost gustav klimt portrait african prince tefaf maastricht 2621432

A long-lost Gustav Klimt portrait of an African prince, missing since World War II, has resurfaced and is now on view at TEFAF Maastricht with a €15 million ($16.4 million) price tag. The painting, titled *Prince William Nii Nortey Dowuona* (1897), was brought to W&K – Wienerroither & Kohlbacher Gallery in 2023 in poor condition, but a stamp from Klimt's estate led to its identification by catalog raisonné author Alfred Weidinger, who had searched for it for two decades. The work depicts an Osu prince from present-day Ghana, created after Klimt attended an ethnographic exhibition at Vienna's Tiergarten am Schüttel where Osu people were put on display. The painting had been owned by Ernestine and Felix Klein, Jewish collectors who fled the Nazis, and is now being shown after a restitution settlement with Klein's heirs.

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rediscovered klimt painting tefaf maastricht export debate 1234743209

A rediscovered Gustav Klimt painting of a West African prince, shown at TEFAF Maastricht in March, has sparked a dispute over its export legality. The Hungarian publication HVG reported that the work was "smuggled" into Austria, while the Austrian outlet Der Standard countered that the Viennese gallery Wienerroither and Kohlbacher obtained the necessary export permit. The gallery denies any wrongdoing, calling HVG's claims an insinuation. The painting, made in 1897 and depicting Prince William Nii Nortey Dowuona, was priced at €15 million and appeared at TEFAF following a restitution settlement with the heirs of Jewish collector Ernestine Klein.