EUGEN VON BLAAS | FAUST AND MARGUERITE IN THE GARDEN

Sale: Albert Kende, Vienna, February 3, 1920, lot 14 (as Faust und Gretchen im Garten. Rechts im Hintergrunde Mephisto und Martha Schwetlein) 

Sale: Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, September 22, 1971, lot 174 (as Faust and Marguerite)

Frederick Thom Gallery, Toronto 

Faust and Marguerite in the Garden is one of Eugen von Blaas’ earliest known works, painted when the artist was only eighteen. At the time he was studying in Venice and occasionally traveling to Vienna to assist his father, the painter Carl von Blaas, who had been commissioned to paint frescoes for the Viennese Arsenal.

The present scene is taken from Act III of the tragic opera Faust, which is based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s play, considered one of the most important works of German literature. Faust, an aging sixteenth century German scholar disillusioned with life, has made a deal with Mephistopheles, an embodiment of the devil, who will grant him aid on earth only in exchange for Faust spending eternity in hell. Faust seeks only to recapture his youth in the romantic pursuit of the beautiful Marguerite, and as part of his promise, Mephistopheles obliges and restores Faust to his younger self. In this moment during Act III, Faust attempts to seduce Marguerite in her garden. Mephistopheles, represented by a red-hooded figure in the background, has distracted Marguerite’s neighbor Marthe to allow the pair to be alone.