Josef Lewinsky as Carlos in Clavigo
Gustav Klimt (1895)
A stark, triptych-like design turns the actor’s upright silhouette into a test of <strong>will</strong> against a surrounding chorus of <strong>masks</strong>, <strong>laurel/ivy</strong>, and a smoking <strong>antique tripod</strong>. Klimt fuses <strong>portrait</strong> and <strong>allegory</strong> to stage the psychic weather of Goethe’s drama while previewing his turn toward <strong>Symbolism</strong> and ornamental modernity <sup>[1]</sup><sup>[2]</sup>.
