The Laundress 1899

Eugen von Blaas painted ‘The Laundress’ using oil on canvas in the late 19th or early 20th century. It depicts a working woman, common in the paintings of the Italian artist. Painted during a time of great social change throughout Europe, the piece represents a moment in the shift of artistic focus to working-class subjects. It’s important to note that the woman, despite supposedly being a manual labourer, is both idealized and sexualized in this image; her clothing is clean, her face is rosy, and her gaze is flirtatious. Blaas, and the art market he catered to, had a vested interest in obscuring the hardships faced by women workers at the time. Examining these visual codes, and how they connect to the social and economic conditions in Italy at the time, can reveal more about the politics of art in the modern era. With more information, we can better understand both the values of the artwork and the values of the society that produced it.