EUGEN VON BLAAS | Semper vivit amor

Sale: Sotheby's, London, June 12, 1996, lot 56, illustrated
Acquired at the above sale 

Maria Antonella Bellin, "I De Blaas. Una dinastia di pittori tra Vienna e Venezia," PhD diss., Università Ca'Foscari, Venice, 2015-16, pp. 124, 205, illustrated p. 205 

The following condition report was kindly provided by Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc.: This painting is in beautiful condition. The canvas is unlined and while the surface is very slightly cracked here and there, there is no instability to the paint layer. The work may not be clean, but looks well. There are no signs of abrasion or weakness. The varnish is slightly uneven. There are a few retouches in the center of the mother's dress, to the right of the young girl's arm. There is another retouch in the mother's chin and a couple of spots in the child's cheek, as well as a few isolated retouches elsewhere. The painting could be cleaned and the varnish addressed, but the work could also certainly be hung in its current state.
"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."

Semper Vivit Amor is a singular accomplishment within Eugen von Blaas’ oeuvre. Known for his idyllic and jovial scenes of beautiful young women and their flirtatious suitors on the streets and canals of Venice, the emotional power of the present work is deeply felt by contrast. A young widow is seen carrying an infant and guiding a young child through the cemetery on All Souls Day, delivering a wreath to a grave. While the decaying flowers of the background reflect the passage of time, the title reminds us that “love lives forever." Growing up in a family of painters, von Blaas trained at the Academy of Venice where his father was an instructor, and revealed a ready aptitude for genre painting. Rather than selecting an excessive amount of props or portraying a complicated narrative, he created a tightly arranged series of compositions. Venetians are captured in evocations of their daily, often domestic, occupations, from laundry-day to knitting and shopping, while the present focuses on the rituals of grieving. Beginning in the late 1880’s, von Blaas began enlarging his canvas size, allowing life-sized or larger representations of his figures to give them a heroic and imposing presence (see, Lisa, 1889, 95 by 51 in., sold in these rooms April 20, 2005, lot 15 and The Fruit Seller, 1887, 71¼ by 43½ in., sold in these rooms April 25, 2006, lot 126). He does not complicate these monumental compositions, maintaining focus on a single figure or grouping. He treats the entire surface to a very high degree of finish, as seen in the varied draperies, floral studies and careful treatment of hands and faces in Semper Vivit Amor. The crumbling masonry of an old brick wall is a favorite pictorial motif, and it is used to great dramatic effect. 

Von Blaas was deeply religious and his oeuvre is punctuated by a number of scenes that strike a more serious tone, such as Scattered Blossom (1871, Private Collection), Nun’s Visit (1883, Private Collection), and God’s Creatures (1913, sold in these rooms, April 18, 2007, lot 98). The present work can be traced to an undated sketch of a related composition, titled Frau mit Kindern (Thomas Wassibauer, Eugen von Blaas, Das Werk, Hildesheim, 2005, p. 149, no. 252, illustrated), as well as another painting of the little girl, dated 1894 (to be offered in The Gilded Age Revisited, Sotheby’s New York, February 2, 2019). All Souls Day has been a popular, albeit somber motif throughout art history, and von Blaas may have been inspired by William Bouguereau's poetic masterpiece, Le jour des morts (1859, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Bordeaux, fig. 1), when painting Semper Vivit Amor.