Love Dies in Time

This painting was one of a pair illustrating the vicissitudes of love through time, which the artist exhibited in the Paris Salon of 1878, and which subsequently belonged to the author Emile Zola. The lost pendant, Love Passes the Time, depicted the happy young couple in a sun-drenched glade. Here, however, all has gone awry: Cupid mourns the death of the young woman, while her lover grasps at the arm of winged Time in a futile attempt to alter the course of events. Edouard-Bernard Debat-Ponsan, though little known today, was honored by his contemporaries for his history and genre paintings as well as his portraiture. Sadly, his support of Zola during the infamous Dreyfus affair around 1899 virtually destroyed him personally and professionally.