Monday, March 17, 2025

01 Painting by Orientalist Artist; Paul Emil Jacobs' the pasha's favourite, with footnotes, #99

Paul Emil Jacobs
The Pasha's favourite (Ali Pasha and Kira Vassiliki), c. 1842
Oil on canvas
158 by 182cm., 62¼ by 71¾in.
Private collection

Sold for 16,250 EUR in October 2014

The painting depicts Ali Pasha of Ioannina and Kira Vassiliki; portraying an intimate moment full of tenderness and love. Kira, the daughter of Kitzos Kontaxis, joined the Ali Pasha's harem at a young age. With her beauty and loyalty she won the love and favour of the powerful tyrant. She kept her faith and her influence on the Pasha saved the lives of many of her compatriots.

This is one of Paul Emil Jacobs's most famous compositions. The first version was executed in 1840 in Rome, following a commission from the King of Württemberg. Several versions followed, as well as engravings. 

Vassiliki Kontaxi was born in the Greek village of Plisivitsa in Thesprotia. At the age of twelve she sought an audience with the local Ottoman ruler, Ali Pasha, to intercede for her father's life. Having granted her father pardon, Ali Pasha married Vassiliki in 1808 and she joined his harem. Being allowed to practice her Christian faith, she interceded on behalf of the Orthodox people. She was perhaps contacted by the Greek patriotic organization Filiki Eteria. During this period she undertook a number of charity initiatives. In 1819–20 she financed a number of restoration works in Mount Athos.

In January 1822, during the last stage of the siege of Ioannina by the Ottoman Sultan's forces, Vassiliki together with Ali Pasha and his private guard escaped to Ioannina Island. Ali Pasha was executed there on January 22 by an Ottoman delegation, having been declared an outlaw by the Sultan. Following Ali's death, Vassiliki was sent as a prisoner to the Ottoman capital, Constantinople. She was later pardoned and returned to Greece, which meanwhile gained its independence after the successful Greek War of Independence (1821–30). In 1830, the Greek state gave Vassiliki a medieval tower in Katochi, where she lived the rest of her life. She died of dysentery in 1834. More on Vassiliki Kontaxi

Ali Pasha (1789-1834) whose origin was from Tepeleni, Albania, became a governor of Ioannina after numerous uprisings and wars. Many famous Greeks served under him and his court gathered well educated people. Through his relation with England and Napoleon Bonaparte he became a well known figure in the western world. More on this painting

Paul Emil Jacobs (August 20, 1802 in Gotha – January 6, 1866) was a German painter. Jacobs received his art training at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts and first became known for his painting of Mercury and Argus (from Classical mythology). In 1824 he went to Rome, where he attracted critical attention by painting "The Raising of Lazarus". In 1836 he made a series of historical paintings at the Welfenschloss in Hannover.

Jacobs was noted for his mastery of nudes, expressed particularly in the representation of such Orientalist themes as "A slave market" or of sleeping and waking naked boys. His image of Scheherezade from Arabian Nights is noted for its light effects. The famous Ali Pasha was depicted by Jacobs in a moment of relaxed intimacy with his favorite mistress (or wife) Kira Vassiliki (above).

Like many Europeans of his generation, Jacobs shared in the Philhellene sympathy for the Greek War of Independence, which took place when he was in the early stage of his artistic career. This was manifested in his painting very sympathetic pictures of "Greek Freedom Fighters".

Jacobs was also a portrait painter. Lithographed portraits by him include those of Goethe, Karl Gottlieb Bretschneider and Döring.

In 1844, Jacobs created the monumental altarpiece "Calvary", for St. Augustine's Church in Gotha. It was removed from St. Augustine's in 1939, and since 1998 the altarpiece has been located in the church of Hohenleuben. More on Paul Emil Jacobs




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Friday, March 7, 2025

02 Paintings by Orientalist Artist; William-Adolphe Bouguereau's Pomegranate Seller, with footnotes, #97

William-Adolphe Bouguereau, (1825 - 1905)
Marchande de grenades (Pomegranate Seller)
In the distance is the Bab Zuwayla, Cairo, Egypt
Oil on canvas
45 1/2 x 35 1/8 inches
Private collection

Bab Zuweila is one of three remaining gates in the city wall of the Old City of Cairo, the capital of Egypt. It was also known as Bawabbat al-Mitwali during the Ottoman period. It is considered one of the major landmarks of the city and is the last remaining southern gate from the walls of Fatimid-era Cairo in the 11th and 12th century.

Its name comes from Bab, meaning "gate", and Zuwayla, as it was the Western Gate of the city that had a trade route for overland travelers with Zuwayla in the Fezzan.  More on Bab Zuweila

William-Adolphe Bouguereau  (1825–1905)
Girl with a Pomegranate, c. 1875
Oil on canvas
height: 59.6 cm (23.4 in); width: 45.7 cm (17.9 in)
Private collection

Sold for 2,322,500 USD in May 2012

William-Adolphe Bouguereau (30 November 1825 – 19 August 1905) was a French academic painter. In his realistic genre paintings he used mythological themes, making modern interpretations of classical subjects, with an emphasis on the female human body. During his life he enjoyed significant popularity in France and the United States, was given numerous official honors, and received top prices for his work. As the quintessential salon painter of his generation, he was reviled by the Impressionist avant-garde. By the early twentieth century, Bouguereau and his art fell out of favor with the public, due in part to changing tastes. In the 1980s, a revival of interest in figure painting led to a rediscovery of Bouguereau and his work. Throughout the course of his life, Bouguereau executed 822 known finished paintings, although the whereabouts of many are still unknown. More on William-Adolphe Bouguereau





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Friday, February 14, 2025

01 Painting by Orientalist Artists. Henry Guillaume Schlesinger's A harem interior, with footnotes, #99

Henry Guillaume Schlesinger (French, 1814-1893)
A harem interior, c. 1846
Oil on canvas
74 x 93cm (29 1/8 x 36 5/8in)
Private collection

Sold for £44,400 in Jun 2022

This group of eleven women form an arc which draws the viewer into the centre of the composition and concentrates the eye on the man and his costume. No detail is spared – a parrot can be seen playing with a woman whose hair is adorned with fresh roses presumably picked from the garden visible beyond the green curtain in the background. Another girl holds a mirror up to the man, as he is serenaded by a beauty. A discarded hookah, the bowl still smoking, can be seen in the foreground, the effects clearly visible in the attitude of the dark-haired woman reclining nearby. More on this painting

Henri-Guillaume Schlesinger, originally Wilhelm Heinrich Schlesinger (6 August 1814, in Frankfurt am Main – 21 February 1893, in Neuilly-sur-Seine) was a French portrait and genre painter of German birth. He was especially known for his lively and sensitive depictions of young women.

He studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna, and was originally active in that city. He then moved to Paris, where he participated in the Salon from 1840 to 1889 and received two medals.

During a visit to Istanbul in 1837, he was commissioned to do several official paintings of Sultan Mahmud II, including a large equestrian portrait and one of the Sultan wearing Western-style clothing, which is now on display at the Topkapi Palace Museum. One was donated to King Louis-Philippe by Mustafa Reşid Pasha, who was then serving as Ambassador to France, and may now be seen at Versailles.

His painting "The Five Senses" was purchased by Empress Eugénie in 1865. The following year, he was named a Chevalier in the Legion of Honor and became a French citizen in 1870, just before the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War. During the war and the subsequent Commune, he lived in London.

In addition to oil paintings, he was a watercolorist and painted miniatures on ivory. More on Henri-Guillaume Schlesinger




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Thursday, November 28, 2024

09 Paintings by Orientalist Artist Otto Pilny's Desert dance scene, with footnotes, #98

Otto Pilny, Budweis 1866–1936 Zurich
Dance in the Desert, c. 1918
Oil on canvas, unlined
112 x 161 cm.; 47¾ x 63½ in.
Private collection

Sold for 100,800 GBP in March 2021

Though little is known of Pilny's early artistic career, it may have been during a brief period of study in Vienna that he was encouraged to travel abroad. Ludwig Deutsch (1855–1935), Rudolf Ernst (1854–1932), and Carl Leopold Müller (1834–1892) had all made this city synonymous with Orientalist art, exhibiting their pictures of Middle Eastern life to great acclaim. Pilny's first trip to Egypt – the favorite destination of the Austro-Hungarian school – took place in 1889; a second journey followed three years later. The paintings that resulted record not merely the landscapes and people that Pilny encountered but also the magical effects of Eastern light and sun. More on this painting

Otto Pilny, (Schweitz, 1866-1936)
Desert dance scene
Oil on canvas
111 x 160 cm.
Private collection

Sold for 25,400 GBP in April 2024

Otto Pilny (SWISS, 1866-1936)
A dance in the desert, c. 1898
Oil on canvas
31 ½ x 47 ½ in. (80 x 120.5 cm.)
Private collection

Sold for GBP 12,500 in Mar 2017

Otto Pilny (Swiss, 1866-1936)
The best dancer, c. 1913
Oil on canvas
120.5 x 185.5cm (47 1/2 x 73in).
Private collection

Sold for US$132,000 in May 2010

The best dancer is a particularly virtuoso representation of one of the artist's favourite themes. The painting is a fine example of the luminosity which is so typical of Pilny's work. As the sun sets, the silhouette of the dancer and her audience become clearer. The orange tones, unique to the desert sun, were of particular interest to the artist. Pilny retells the simplicity of Bedouin life by illustrating the enjoyment of the viewers. He also invites us to watch the almost life-size dancer by creating a direct line of sight to the performance without any obstructions. He was a prolific painter and fuelled by his love for the Orient he left behind a wide oeuvre in which the warm tones and vibrant atmosphere of tribal desert dominate the scene. More on this painting

Otto Pilny (Swiss, 1866-1936)
The Dancer
Oil on canvas
111.5 by 160cm., 44 by 63in.
Private collection

Sold for 63,650 GBP in May 2011

Otto Pilny
Dancing at Sunset, c. 1905
Oil on canvas
120.5 by 179.5cm., 47½ by 70¾in.
Private collection

Sold for GBP 22,500 in May 2013

Otto Pilny
Dancing at Sunset
Oil on canvas
80.5 by 120cm., 31½ by 47¼in.
Private collection

Sold for 63,650 GBP in May 2011

Pilny was especially interested in capturing the effects of directional light on the sand and figures in order to evoke a powerful impression, sometimes at the expense of ethnographic accuracy, as in the present work. While the individual figures and their costumes are minutely observed, they in fact hail from different parts of the Middle East: the figure on the left wears a Tunisian style fez, while the two seated men in the left foreground wear the headresses unique to modern-day Iraq and Saudi Arabia, respectively. The girl herself appears, judging by her complexion, to be North African, probably Egyptian. More on this painting

Otto Pilny
The desert dance
Oil on canvas
31 ¾ x 47 ½ in. (80.6 x 120.7 cm.)
Private collection

Sold for USD 4,375 in Dec 2018

Otto Pilny
DANCE OF THE SEVEN VEILS, c. 1916
Oil on canvas
130 by 160cm., 51 by 63in.
Private collection

Sold for 51,650 GBP in May 2011

Otto Pilny was a Swiss painter. He was born in 1866 in Budweis and died in 1936 in Zürich. He began his artistic education in Prague and lived in Vienna for a time before ultimately settling in Zurich. He travelled to Egypt twice, making his first visit in 1875 where he stayed for two years. He was so captivated by the landscape, people and their mores that he spent the rest of his career painting Orientalist works. He was particularly taken by the Bedouin customs and often travelled with them into the desert where he could sketch the evening entertainment which he would later use on his massive canvases. His second visit to the East was from 1889 to 1892. It was at this time that his work pleased the King of Egypt, Abbas II, and he was asked to decorate the order of the Medjidije. More Otto Pilny





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Monday, November 11, 2024

01 Painting by Orientalist Artists. Cesare Felix Georges dell' Acqua's Greek mother, with footnotes, #97

Cesare Felix Georges dell' Acqua (ITALIAN, 1821-1904)
Greek mother, c. 1860
Oil on canvas
86 x 66 cm.
Private collection

Sold for £938,400 in December 2007

This painting is an archetypal image of the Greek War of Independence and a classic document in the history of 19th century Philhellenism. As noted by F.M. Tsigakou in her seminal book The Rediscovery of Greece.

Cesare dell Acqua's Greek Mother is a scene full of drama and emotion. Frightened yet fierce, the young mother leaves the spectator in no doubt that no enemy will ever take her child from her arms. Such a scene not only moves the heart but sanctifies the Greek cause, while alluding to a heroic, glorious past. 

The war provided European artists with a wealth of themes. Pictorially, the heroic, religious, classical and oriental elements of the Revolution offered them particularly sensational subject matter. Furthermore, the theme was so familiar to the European public that artists utilised it to allude to the oppression in their own countries. More on this painting

The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution of 1821 was a successful war of independence by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1829. The Greeks were later assisted by the British Empire, France, and Russia, while the Ottomans were aided by their North African vassals, particularly the eyalet of Egypt. The war led to the formation of modern Greece. The revolution is celebrated by Greeks around the world as independence day on 25 March. More on The Greek War of Independence

Cesare Felix Georges dell' Acqua was born in Pirano d'Istria near Trieste in 1821 and died in Brussels in 1904. He entered the Venice Academy in 1842 and studied painting under Ludovico Lipparini, Odorico Politi and Michelangelo Grigoletti. One of his early works, The Meeting of Cimabue and the Young Giotto (1847) was noticed and acquired by Archduke Johann of Austria. In this period he also received commissions from Prince von Lichtenstein. Soon after, the artist continued his studies in Paris and in 1847 he moved to Brussels where his brother Eugène lived. There he became a student of Gallait. Following his studies, he travelled to Vienna, Munich and Paris, along with his patron, the Hungarian Baron Ludovico Luigi Reszan. Soon after, he painted two large pictures for the Greek Orthodox Church of Trieste, one of which, The Sermon of John in the Dessert, was so acclaimed that he was awarded town citizenship in 1851. The other painting, Jesus Calling the Small Children to Him, was shown in the 1854 Brussels Exhibition, where he received the gold medal. 

Dell' Acqua always knew how to pick attractive or interesting historical subjects. He also painted watercolours, a large collection of which was in the hands of Countess Duval de Beaulieu in Brussels. Some of his works were acquired by the collection of the Belgian Royal Palace. Besides historical romantic motifs he also painted subjects drawn from daily life. Between 1858 and 1866 he produced a number of large works in the Miramare Palace of Kaiser Maximilian, recounting the long history of the area. Works by Dell' Acqua are included in major private and public collections, such as the museums of Brussels, Antwerp, Trieste and Bruges. Besides this rich output, Dell' Acqua painted many attractive female half-length portraits clad in traditional Greek and oriental garb. More on Cesare Felix Georges dell' Acqua




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Saturday, October 5, 2024

01 Work , Orientalist Artist, Adiodun Olaku's The Crest Chargec, with footnotes #134

Adiodun Olaku. Nigerian

The Crest Chargec, c. 1993

Oil on canvas

102 by 120cm., 40⅛ by 47¼in.

Private collection

Estimate for 5,000 - 7,000 GBP in Sep 2024

Abiodun Olawale Olaku was born in 1958 in Ibadan. He completed his Higher National Diploma at the Yaba College of Technology between 1976 and 1981 before joining the Federal civil service, where he served while creating art for the next seven years, resigning in February 1989 to pursue a full-time studio practice. Olaku combines a calm realism with subtle contrasts of light and shade to convey a heightened sense of drama in his canvases. Working from dark to light, he builds up his forms in increasingly lighter tones from a fairly consistent underlay of grays, and then applies the strongest highlights. Olaku’s success is hinged largely on this masterful play of shadows and half-lights in creating mood and suggesting thought and feeling. 

Olaku is a member of the Society of Nigeria Artists (SNA); a founding member, inaugural vice president and trustee of the Guild of Professional Fine Artists of Nigeria (GFA); and a founder and trustee of The Universal Studios of Art, National Theatre, Lagos. More on Abiodun Olawale Olaku




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Saturday, September 28, 2024

01 Painting by Orientalist Artists, Amelia Goddard's The orange sellers, with footnotes, #96

Amelia Goddard (British, 1847-1928)
The orange sellers, c. 1875
Oil on canvas
104.5 x 76.5cm (41 1/8 x 30 1/8in).
Private collection

Sold for £16,575 in June 2022

Amelie Goddard was born in Christchurch, Hampshire, close to the New Forest in southern England but lived most of her life within the boundaries of the national park. Both Amelia and her elder sister Eliza (b. 1840) became artists and travelled to France to further their studies when Amelia was still in her late teens. The sisters would show their work at exhibitions together and the height of their careers came in 1904, when a show entitled The Knot of Grass, composed entirely of Amelia and her sister's work, was held at the Dore Gallery in New Bond Street, London.

Much of Amelia's subject matter was drawn from the lives of those who lived within the New Forest, principally gypsy families who had roamed and lived in harmony with the forest for generations. Amelia and Eliza's grandfather, John, had been a doctor who had always been prepared to help the poorer members of society. It was Amelia's experience as a young girl, seeing him tending to the poorest souls of the Forest that formed her close affiliation with these people who existed on the very edge of society. More on Amelie Goddard 




Please visit my other blogs: Art CollectorMythologyMarine ArtPortrait of a Lady, The OrientalistArt of the Nude and The Canals of VeniceMiddle East Artists365 Saints365 Days, and Biblical Icons, also visit my Boards on Pinterest and my art stores at  deviantart and Aaroko

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