Albert Lipczinski (1876 Lebork - 1974 Sopot), Gypsy, 1938.

oil, canvas, 77 × 51.5 cm,
Signed and dated p. d.: "Alb Lipczinski 1938"

Provenance:
- Collection of the Artist
- private collection, Poland

Reproduced:
- "Albert Lipczinski 1876-1974", catalog
of the exhibition, edited by Małgorzata Ruszkowska-Macur, Gdansk 2011, p. 153, il. 4.

The portrait of the bohemian woman presented in the auction offer must have held a special place in Lipczinski's heart. The painting hung on the wall in the artist's Sopot apartment, as evidenced by a photograph from the last years of the artist's life. Here we see two portraits behind the back of the now aged Lipczinski: the first on the left is a portrait showing one of the artist's favorite models - his beloved wife Elizabeth in Dutch dress, dated 1907. Next to it is a painting of a mysterious young woman.
According to the account of Krystyna Tarnawska - a Sopot friend of the artist, the portrait was said to depict Mrs. Schneider. The identity of the model was to be confirmed by Albert himself, claiming that it was supposed to be an image of Roma Schneider - an Austrian actress. Unfortunately, the date of the painting, 1938, rules out that the model was the famous Sisi character actor, since the latter was born in the very year the work was painted. The portrayed beauty is probably another of mysterious origin, Miss Schneider, with whom Lipczinski would have fallen in love in the 1930s. In a December 25, 1948 letter to Elizabeth Yates, Elizabeth Lipczinski writes: "Do you remember Mrs. Schneider? That pretty maiden that Alchen was so crazy about? Yesterday we received a letter from her from Germany - her first husband died or rather fell at the beginning of j war, and then the same fate befell her second husband. She raised two children and now works at a newspaper, where I think she edits articles. She always knew how to write nicely. We were pleased to receive a letter, as we hadn't heard from her in six years." (David Bingham, "Albert Lipczinski. The Unsullied Painter," translated by Marek Chojnacki, Gdansk 2011, p.184.)