No doubt inspired by the resplendent majestic KnightTemplar from the 1902 The Beethoven Frieze, the golden V, knight is now mounted and ready for battle. The helmet with its heraldic colors,
by his feet in the frieze, is now on his head, the colors more vividly highlighted.
Despite the horse's lifted hoof, the work has a static medieval quality, as though lifted from an ancient frieze or mural. The probable influence was Klimt's two 1903 trips to Ravenna, Italy, to see
the fabulous golden Byzantine mosaics. They had a profound effect on his work. Correspondingly, this painting has a gorgeous mosaic quality, expressed in the exquisite bridle, lance handle, and
helmet, as well as in the backdrop's rich stippling.
This effect, combined with the three-foot (one-metre) squared composition, recalls Klimt's landscape work and esoteric belief in the square's balancing power. It also underlines the Knight Templar's
esoteric symbolism, and the Symbolists' calling to "seek the symbol behind the appearance, the eternal idea beneath the form." Here, Klimt, as art's knight, takes up the fight. The painting, exhibited
in the 1903 Secession Exhibition, was bought by the steel magnate, Karl Wittgenstein, whose daughter Klimt painted the following year.
Most Famous Gustav Klimt Paintings
The Kiss by Gustav Klimt
The Sunflower by Gustav Klimt
Death and Life by Gustav Klimt
Beethoven Frieze by Gustav Klimt
Birch Forest by Gustav Klimt
Lady with Fan by Gustav Klimt
Danae by Gustav Klimt
The Three Ages of Woman by Gustav Klimt
Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I by Gustav Klimt
The Tree of Life, Stoclet Frieze by Gustav Klimt
Judith and the Head of Holofernes by Gustav Klimt