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Oil on canvas. Sign. on basin on right: E. Veith. According to the expert opinion prepared by PhDr. Naděžda Blažíčková-Horová, “The allegorical scene “The End of Love (Seduced and Abandoned)” is a beautiful work by the Austrian painter Eduard Veith, who was one of the most highly acclaimed fin-de-siècle Symbolist artists. An excellent draftsman and a master of cultivated color, he created ceiling frescos and decorative ornamentation for numerous mansions and theaters throughout Central Europe. In Prague he painted eight ceiling frescos and the curtain for the German Theater (now the State Opera); he was also involved in decorating theaters in Ostrava, Brno, Berlin, Vienna and the Prague Rudolfinum. He also created a large number of hanging paintings of allegorical motifs, a popular theme at the turn of the century. An example of this can be seen in this painting, which can be interpreted as the sorrowful end of a love affair. The young woman sitting on the retaining wall of a small reservoir has apparently drunk from the spring of pleasure, perhaps she has swum in it, and now she fears the consequences as her lover has left her (as symbolized by the black veil) and Cupid's gesture expresses the hopelessness of the situation. This work is a very effective example of Veith's painterly artistry.