Eugen von Blaas

Private Collection, Germany, acquired circa 1960 (and sold: Sotheby's, London, June 6, 2001, lot 126, illustrated)
M.S. Rau Antiques, New Orleans, Louisiana
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 2001

Thomas Wassibauer, Eugen von Blaas, Das Werk, Hildesheim, 2005, no. 158, p. 137, illustrated in color p. 85

The following condition report was kindly provided by Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc.: This painting has been recently restored and should be hung as is. The panel on which it is painted seems to have been reinforced slightly on the reverse, but the surface is stable and even now, and the picture should be hung as is. Under UV, one can see restorations around the base of the door and between the feet. There is a fairly significant split in the panel which has attracted some restoration in the lower portion of the door, and there are some light glazes added in the landscape beyond the door on the left side. On the upper left corner there are a few cracks which have been retouched. And there is another vertical crack which runs through the center of the panel, through the left shoulder, and through the clothing. There is restoration to this picture, but it is not attracted by abrasion so much as just some old movement in the panel, and the picture feels very fresh.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Eugen von Blaas was born in 1843 in the small Italian suburb of Albano, located ten miles outside of Rome on the Appian Way. Von Blaas's father, Karl von Blaas, enjoyed a profitable career as an artist and encouraged his son's early interest in painting. In his youth, Eugen von Blaas was educated in Venice, but also frequently traveled back and forth to Vienna, where he assisted his father with a series of frescoes at the Arsenal. In 1866 he traveled to London via Paris and in 1867 met and fell in love with Paola Prina, a wealthy young woman whom he married three years later. The von Blaases lived in Venice for most of the remainder of their life, enjoying a very active life in Venetian society, including countless social engagements and frequent hunting trips for Eugen. It was in Venice that Eugen von Blaas's artistic skill blossomed, and he received numerous commissions, which allowed he and his family to take up permanent residence in a beautiful palazzo on the Zattere.

By 1881, von Blaas had established himself as the "painter of Venetian beauties." The Eavesdropper, created in 1906, is emblematic of this subject. Here a beautiful young lady leans inquisitively toward an open door, presumably listening to a private conversation taking place on the other side. Thomas Wassibauer, author of the 2005 catalogue raisonné on von Blaas, credits the artist's ability to paint figures so beautifully to his time spent in Vienna with his father between 1860 and 1872. Wassibauer writes of the influence this period had upon Eugen: "the artist's infinite skill showing glorious flesh tones [used] a technique Eugen learned from his father Karl. In his autobiography, Karl von Blaas describes how he studied Titian's technique and learned to build up flesh colors using different glazes in order to produce a natural and three-dimensional effect... Eugen's work with his father in Vienna during the 1860s could still be seen to resonate for the next fifty years of his long career" (Wassibauer, pp. 16-17).