Bidspirit auction | Sveva Caetani

Sveva Caetani - Sveva Caetani ”To Ganesha: The Good Companions”. Print of a Watercolor and Gouache painting from the Recapitulation Series. Framed.. Sveva Caetani ”To Ganesha: The Good Companions”.  Framed print reproduction of a Watercolour and Gouache painting from the Recapitulation Series. Fair Market Value of $1,000.   Ganesha is a deity worshipped in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism.  Sveva invokes his image to explore themes of environmentalism and companionship with nature.  Art historian Adriana A. Davies, CM, Cav. d’Italia, PhD states that: ”Sveva’s mastery of the watercolour medium is complete and the scale of some of the works challenges the limitations of the medium. The Recapitulation series demonstrates the evolution of Sveva’s artistic style that is both representational and symbolic. I firmly believe that she belongs not only in the canon of Canadian artists (particularly in the under-represented area of women artists) but also world art. What is her achievement? In visual terms, she has left a compelling body of work that is both challenging and uplifting. In psychological terms, she goes through a “dark night of the soul” and achieves what was, for her, a state of enlightenment. She uses all of her knowledge of commentators on the human condition throughout the ages as signs and guide posts through her journey. She also draws on her extensive knowledge of the visual arts and, on occasion, paints an homage to someone that she found particularly inspiring. Recapitulation is thus a masterwork in both visual art and the written word.” https://thebcreview.ca/2024/06/17/2201-caetani-davies/ ”In the honey, gorgeous realm of nature, where death is just the shutter of the camera closing off another snapshot of existence, without malice or evil, the boarders are narrowing. Our earth is not an ark floating on until fresh living space emerges, but an inescapable planet being devoured of air, space and purity. In this reduction to sterility and waste, the good companions that still remain are as if one a last Ararat, one glowing with the very wondrousness of what is still here to be lost.” Sveva Caetani (1995). Sveva Caetani (August 6, 1917 – April 28, 1994), was an Italian-Canadian artist. She immigrated to Canada in 1921 with her father, Leone Caetani, and her mother, Ofelia Fabiani. Leone, an Italian nobleman (Prince of Teano and Duke of Sermoneta), brought his second family to Canada due to irreconcilable differences in philosophy — he was a radical socialist and the regime in Italy was fascist.[1]” A Long Lineage of Italian Royalty Descending from the House of Caetani, Sveva Caetani represented the last of an ancient line that traces its roots back over 1,200 years and includes at least two medieval popes, Pope Gelasius II and Pope Boniface VIII, and noted politicians, cardinals, academics, artists, writers, and musicians Sveva’s father, Duke Leone Caetani di Sermoneta held 16 noble titles and was a parliamentarian and an academic who compiled the eleven volume Annals of Islam. He is still recognized today as one of the most influential and knowledgeable scholars of secular Islam.   Partly in response to the rise of fascism in early 20th century Italy, Leone Caetani relocated his family to the North Okanagan in 1921. He had been to British Columbia to go bear hunting in the Kootenays in 1890s as part of a trip across North America. Intrigued by the Canadian wilderness, he published an account of his travels in the book, Selkirks. Leaving Italy abruptly and under somewhat mysterious circumstances in August 1921, the small family arrived in Vernon, BC, a village of 3,650 people in the Canadian West. The family of Leone Caetani, Ofelia Fabiani and their four-year-old daughter, Sveva, brought with them 33 trunks, a cook, a valet, and the family secretary and companion, Miss Jüül. A Life of International Luxury As a young child, Sveva lived a life of wealth and privilege. Frequent excursions to Europe included shopping for haute couture clothing with her mother in Paris, having trunks designed for her family by Louis Vuitton, visits to the extensive family holdings in Italy, and swimming and sunbathing in Monte Carlo. She took private art lessons from the artist Andre Petroff. The family was frequently attended by Sveva’s governesses and tutors, and always traveled with her mother’s lifelong companion, Miss Jüül, who would continue to live with Sveva until her own death in 1973. The economic crash of 1929 decimated most of the family’s considerable fortunes. Though by no means destitute, their life of international travel and leisure came to an end. No longer able to afford private tutors, Sveva was sent to Crofton House, a private academy for girls in Vancouver, at age thirteen, but returned home partway through her second year there with a case of measles. It was during this time that her father become ill with cancer.  A Life in Exile Leone passed away on Christmas Day,