‘Lost’ Klimt drawing discovered in Austria

Vienna : A drawing by Austrian artist Gustav Klimt, which disappeared from a museum collection, has been found in the effects of a recently deceased secretary, authorities said yesterday.

The drawing “Zwei Liegende” (“Two Reclining Figures”) is one of four works by Klimt and fellow pioneer of Viennese Modernism Egon Schiele that have been at the centre of a drawn-out legal battle between the city of Linz and the heirs of artist and collector Olga Jaeger.

Jaeger had given the works to a museum in Linz on long-term loan in 1951.

But when her descendants asked for them back in 2006, they were nowhere to be found.

They took the city to court and after a long legal battle were awarded damages of 8.21 million euros ($10.1m).

Now city authorities say that the Klimt drawing has been tracked down.