(Tulln 1890–1918 Vienna)
Portrait of Boda János, signed, dated Egon Schiele 1917 as well as handwritten (brown ink): “Boda János ..., Mühling am 14then Jäner 1917” and on the reverse the inscription: “Oblt. (?) Boda János zugeteilt der k. u. k. Offiziers Station Mühling”, black chalk on paper, 38.7 x 29.5 cm, framed

Jane Kallir saw this work in the original at Dorotheum Vienna.
She assigned the number D.2065a to it. It will be included in the forthcoming
digital update of the comprehensive catalogue raisonné Egon Schiele:
The Complete Works.

Provenance:
Private Collection, Vienna

Compare:
Jane Kallir D.2078-Portrait of k. u. k. Oberleutnant in der Reserve
Dr. jur. Hans Rosé

On 1 May 1916, Schiele was notified of his posting to a war prisoner camp for Russian officers in Mühling. He travelled there on 3 May, his wife following on 5 May. The next day she wrote Marie and Melanie Schiele the following: “...finally sent somewhere Egon likes... his duties are light, and the officers are friendly and courteous... The view of the countryside from our room is delightful... one can see the snow-covered peak of the Ötscher mountain. The Erlauf river flows past our house...”
Indeed, Schiele himself also found Mühling to be charmingly situated; but his work hours (8am-12pm and 2pm-6pm) in the “Proviantur” – the office for food supplies – and his occasional half-days off left him little time to dedicate to his art...
In January 1917, Schiele (who was promoted to volunteer corporal for one year on the 30 June the previous year) was allowed to return to Vienna [not at the beginning of September 1916, as previous publications state]. He was then employed in the “K.u.k. Konsumanstalt für die Gagisten der Armee im Felde” (the Imperial and Royal cooperative store for salaried career soldiers of the field army), run by Lieutenant Dr Hand Rosé. According to Leopold Lieger, Rosé’s deputy Karl Grünwald tried to alleviate the hardships of military life “for those who had, or whom he believed to have, an artistic nature”. ...
Rudolf Leopold, Egon Schiele, Residenz Verlag, 1972, p. 15