Jószef Arpád Koppay Baron von Drétoma
Maria Bonn (née Katharina Sundl)

1903
Belvedere, Vienna, 3648

Jószef Arpád Koppay portrayed the second wife of actor, playwright and theatre director Ferdinand Bonn. Maria Bonn had never attended a drama school, but was trained by her husband, who wanted to fulfil his (!) pipe-dream of the “famous artist couple”. In her memoirs, actress Adele Sandrock states that Bonn “was absolutely miserable when she had to go on the stage”. Maria married Ferdinand Bonn in 1897 and died in 1909, aged 38. In 1910, shortly after the premature death of his second wife, the widower donated the portrait to the imperial painting gallery.