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Lot Essay
Eugène de Blaas was born into a family of accomplished artists. His father Karl von Blaas, a portrait, history and fresco painter as well as a sculptor, was a professor at the Vienna Academy of Fine Art. Eugène's brother Julius was a painter of battle scenes and animals as well as an established watercolorist, who later on became a professor at the Academy in Rome. The family, originally from Austria, relocated initially to Rome, where Eugène and Julius were born, followed by Venice due to Karl's posting at the Academy. Eugène then attended the Academy in Rome, where he later became a professor, followed by the Academy in Venice. His art was well received in England, allowing him to exhibit consistently at the Royal Academy, the Grafton gallery and the New Gallery between 1875 and 1892.
The most frequently handled subjects in Eugène de Blaas' art are Venetian washerwomen, street vendors and seamstresses who are striking in their youthful and unadorned beauty. He depicts them with photographic realism and a high finish. De Blaas typically found inspiration from the everyday lives of such ordinary folk and his art mirrors the tenderness and affinity he felt for them. He also portrays his adoration for and marvel over the Italian, particularly Venetian, lifestyle and mood as well as the romantic urban texture of the city. In the context of such sentiments, Venice was the most suitable site for his oeuvre as it provided the artist with a never-changing environment as well as temperament. The city, due to its wealth in architectural and artistic inheritance together with an inability to expand, remained relatively unaffected by the fast-paced changes brought about by the industrial revolution. This time capsule allowed Eugène de Blaas to paint idyllic common folk without being consumed by a sense of melancholic nostalgia.
It is unusual to be able present such a large, life size composition at auction by the artist as most of his works are small, more intimate pieces. His strong academic background becomes especially evident in these rare and ambitious compositions where the handling of the figure, its posture, the flesh tones and its facial expression is exceptionally well-planned and executed.
The most frequently handled subjects in Eugène de Blaas' art are Venetian washerwomen, street vendors and seamstresses who are striking in their youthful and unadorned beauty. He depicts them with photographic realism and a high finish. De Blaas typically found inspiration from the everyday lives of such ordinary folk and his art mirrors the tenderness and affinity he felt for them. He also portrays his adoration for and marvel over the Italian, particularly Venetian, lifestyle and mood as well as the romantic urban texture of the city. In the context of such sentiments, Venice was the most suitable site for his oeuvre as it provided the artist with a never-changing environment as well as temperament. The city, due to its wealth in architectural and artistic inheritance together with an inability to expand, remained relatively unaffected by the fast-paced changes brought about by the industrial revolution. This time capsule allowed Eugène de Blaas to paint idyllic common folk without being consumed by a sense of melancholic nostalgia.
It is unusual to be able present such a large, life size composition at auction by the artist as most of his works are small, more intimate pieces. His strong academic background becomes especially evident in these rare and ambitious compositions where the handling of the figure, its posture, the flesh tones and its facial expression is exceptionally well-planned and executed.