Eugen von Blaas

With Thomas Mclean, London

Christies, London, 4 October 1991, lot 95

Thomas Wassibauer, Eugen von Blaas, 1843-1931: Das Werk, Hildesheim, 2005, p. 142, no. 199, illustrated (as Woman from the South)

Dressed in beautifully rendered and colourful fabrics, A Mediterranean Beauty shows a dark haired young woman gazing towards the viewer in this intimate and direct portrait. Famed for his depictions of everyday life in Venice, Blaas' commercial subjects and finely painted canvases found a ready market among the wealthy travellers and tourists visiting the city. Above all he strove to capture the inherent beauty of the Italian women with vignettes of their conversations in the street or courting with lovers, and as can be seen in the present work, intimate portraits of the women where the focus is entirely on their features. 

Born into an Austrian family of artists in Rome, Eugen von Blaas’ father Karl was a renowned historical painter and professor at the Venice Academy of Fine Art, while his younger brother Julius painted military scenes and horses and, like Eugen, also became a professor at the Accademia in Rome. Von Blaas' marriage into a wealthy Italian family would give him the exposure and means that would earn him the sobriquet 'painter of Venetian beauties.' Whilst the great titans of the Italian Renaissance and later artist travellers like Turner or Monet capitalised on the cities iconic views, von Blaas continued to delve into the colourful daily life of its inhabitants.