Baroness Sonja Knips was the wife of industrial magnate Anton Knips. For Knips, the highlight of the year 1898 may have been her introduction to the architect Josef Hoffmann - not the portrait we usually know her by. From its formation, Sonja Knips was an important patron of the Vienna Secession and of Josef Hoffmann, yet the lengthy entry in The Grove Dictionary of Art manages to dodge any mention of her role. All three - Klimt, Knips, and Hoffmann - shared a common aim: the acceptance of a new Viennese art.
