01 Paintings by the Orientalist Artists in the Nineteenth-Century, with footnotes, 29

Ferencz Eisenhut, 1857 - 1903, HUNGARIAN

IN THE HAREM, c. 1889

Oil on panel

49 by 32.5cm., 19 by 12¾in.
Private collection

Harem a sacred inviolable place; for female members of the family. Harem properly refers to domestic spaces that are reserved for the women of the house in a Muslim family and are inaccessible to adult males except for close relations. Similar institutions have been common in other Mediterranean and Middle Eastern civilizations, especially among royal and upper-class families and the term is sometimes used in non-Islamic contexts. The structure of the harem and the extent of monogamy or polygamy has varied depending on the family's personalities, socio-economic status, and local customs. A harem may house a man's wife—or wives and concubines, as in royal harems of the past.

In the West, Orientalist imaginary conceptions of the harem as a fantasy world of forbidden sexuality where numerous women lounged in suggestive poses have influenced many paintings, stage productions, films and literary works. Several European Renaissance paintings dating to the 16th century defy Orientalist tropes and portray the women of the Ottoman harem as individuals of status and political significance. In many periods of Islamic history women in the harem exercised various degrees of political power. More on the Harem

Franz Eisenhut (25 January 1857 – 2 June 1903) was a prominent Danube Swabian Realist and Orientalist painter. He is considered one of Austria-Hungary's greatest academic painters in the second half of the 19th century. His works can be found in many European museums across the continent.

Franz Eisenhut was born in Nova Palanka, Voivodeship of Serbia and Banat of Temeschwar, Austrian Empire. His father had hoped for Franz to become a merchant, but the Hungarian painter He studied at Hungarian Royal Drawing School in Budapest from 1875 until 1877. Afterwards, he became a student of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. He studied there until 1883.

After finishing the Academy, he went on a trip to the Orient for the first time, visiting the Caucasus. The next year, he held his first exhibition in Budapest. The Orient became his main source of inspiration and Orientalist paintings will become his most famous works. His first great success was the 1886 painting "Healing through the Koran in Beirut".

Franz Eisenhut's most famous work is the painting "Battle of Zenta", made in 1896 for the Hungarian Millennium Exhibition, celebrating 1000 years since the Hungarian settlement in the Great Hungarian Plain. More on Franz Eisenhut

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01 Paintings by the Orientalist Artists in the Nineteenth-Century, with footnotes, 25

Frederick Arthur Bridgman, 1847 - 1928, AMERICAN

ALGERIAN SPAHI ON HORSEBACK, c. 1900

Watercolour and pencil on paper

41 by 30cm., 16 by 11¾in.

Private collection

Spahis were light cavalry regiments of the French army recruited primarily from the indigenous populations of Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco. 

Following the French occupation of Algiers in 1830, detachments of locally recruited irregular horsemen were attached to the regiments of light cavalry assigned to North African service. These auxiliaries were designated as chasseurs spahis. In 1834 they were organised into four squadrons of regular spahis. In 1841 the 14 squadrons by then in existence were brought together in a single corps of spahis. Finally, in 1845 three separate Spahi regiments were created: the 1st of Algiers; the 2nd of Oran and the 3rd of Constantine.

The spahi regiments saw extensive service in the French conquest of Algeria, in the Franco-Prussian War, in Tonkin towards the end of the Sino-French War (1885), in the occupation of Morocco and Syria, and in both World Wars. A detachment of Spahis served as the personal escort of Marshal Jacques Leroy de Saint Arnaud in the Crimean War. A contingent of Spahis also participated in the North China campaign of 1860. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71 one detached squadrons of Spahis formed part of the forces defending Paris, while a provisional regiment comprising three squadrons was attached to the Army of the Loire. A serious rising against French rule in Algeria during 1871–72 was sparked off by the mutiny of a squadron of Spahis who had been ordered to France to reinforce those units already there.  More on Spahis

Frederick Arthur Bridgman (November 10, 1847 - 1928) was an American artist, born in Tuskegee, Alabama. The son of a physician, Bridgman would become one of the United States' most well-known and well-regarded painters and become known as one of the world's most talented "Orientalist" painters. He began as a draughtsman in New York City, for the American Bank Note Company in 1864-1865, and studied art in the same years at the Brooklyn Art Association and at the National Academy of Design; but he went to Paris in 1866 and became a pupil of Jean-Leon Gerome. Paris then became his headquarters. A trip to Egypt in 1873-1874 resulted in pictures of the East that attracted immediate attention, and his large and important composition, The Funeral Procession of a Mummy on the Nile, in the Paris Salon (1877), bought by James Gordon Bennett, brought him the Cross of the Legion of Honor. Other paintings by him were An American Circus in Normandy, Procession of the Bull Apis (now in the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.), and a Rumanian Lady (in the Temple collection, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania). More on Frederick Arthur Bridgman

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01 Paintings by the Orientalist Artists in the Nineteenth-Century, with footnotes, 24

Giulio Rosati, 1858 - 1917, ITALIAN

THE CARPET MERCHANT

Pencil, watercolour and gouache on paper

36 by 25.5cm., 14¼  by 10in.

Private collection

Giulio Rosati, 1858 - Rome - 1917,  specialised in eighteenth century costume pieces, comical scenes of from the life of the clergy and Orientalist subjects. His preferred medium was watercolour, though he also worked in oils.

Rosati studied at the Academy of Rome. He was the pupil of several eminent artists, in particular the poet and architect Francesco Podesti (1800-1895) and Dario Querci (born 1831), a portrait and history painter from Messina. He also studied with Luis Alvarez y Catala (1836-1901), director of the Prado Museum, Madrid.

Rosati was one of a large group of Italian Orientalist painters working in Rome at the end of the nineteenth century. These artists emulated Mariano Fortuny y Marsal in his skilful rendering of detail and bright colouring. This manner was particularly popular with American and British collectors, many of whom purchased these images as a memento of their travels in the Near East, a voyage very much in vogue at the end of the last century. 

Guilio Rosati had a son Alberto who also became an artist. His manner is very much indebted to his father, but he was not so prolific. More Giulio Rosati

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01 Paintings by the Orientalist Artists in the Nineteenth-Century, with footnotes, 27

Frederick Arthur Bridgman, 1847 - 1928, AMERICAN

WOMEN OF BLIDAH ON THE DAY OF THE PROPHET, c. 1900

Oil on canvas

66 by 54.5cm., 26 by 21½in.

Private collection

The Day of the Prophet, known as Mawlid, is celebrated on either the twelfth or seventeenth day of Rabia al Awal, the third month of the Muslim calendar, roughly coinciding with January. Mawlid also provided a framework for female involvement. Women often participated in the celebrations outside the mosque rituals. The present work shows a congregation of women dressed in their ritual drapery. It was painted a year after Bridgman's larger work of the same subject, depicting Algerian women burning candles in the cemetry of Oued El-Kebir outside Blidah, in Algeria. More on The Day of the Prophet

Blidah , today Blida, is the name of a city in Algeria. It is the capital of the province of the same name and is also called Ville des Roses ("City of Roses").


The city is located about 40 km south of the Algerian capital Algiers in a valley of Tellatlas. The coast of the Mediterranean is about 30 km away. In 1838 , Blidah was captured by French troops who set up a garrison there. In 1825 and 1867 , the city was destroyed by earthquakes. Today there is a university ( Université Saad Dahlab Blida ). More on Blidah

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01 Paintings by the Orientalist Artists in the Nineteenth-Century, with footnotes, 26

Gustavo Simoni, 1846 - 1946, ITALIAN

THE CARPET SELLER, c. 1893

Watercolour and pencil on paper

57 by 86.5cm., 22¾ by 34in.

Private collection

Arab Market Scene is the type of on-site composition that Simoni developed into paintings in his studio from travel sketches in North Africa and the Middle East. Although best known for his Orientalist works depicting mosques and other Islamic subject matter — he was particularly fascinated with the village festivals he witnessed in North Africa — Simoni also created images of everyday life, like this market scene, which depicts the daily workings of a village community conversing, walking, and selling beautifully crafted, decorative wares. More on the Arab Market 

Gustavo Simoni ( Rome , 5 November 1845 - Palestrina , 1926 ) was an Italian painter and teacher. He was born in Rome. He had a younger brother, Scipione, who directed him to painting.

He chose to follow the innovative road marked by Mariano Fortuny. Starting in 1877 Gustavo Simoni traveled extensively, going to France, Spain and Africa, where he stayed several times in Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco. He settled for many years in the ancient city of Tlemcen, in Algeria, in an isolated house where he welcomed friends who came from Rome. He had relationships with authoritative personalities of the place. His fame was gained among collectors and connoisseurs. He won the Gold Medal at the Paris Salon of 1889 and was again awarded in 1895, at the Exposition of Fine Arts in Rome.


He became a member of the Accademia di San Luca . In the late nineteenth century he opened a studio in Paris, where he attended the main exponents of symbolism, satisfying the requests for the orientalist genre in watercolor and, in large sizes, in oil. Back in Rome, he founded his own school of Orientalist painting. He lived in a farmhouse in Via di Villa Patrizi. More on Gustavo Simoni

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01 Paintings by the Orientalist Artists in the Nineteenth-Century, with footnotes, 23

Jules van Biesbroeck, 1873 - 1965, BELGIAN

THE CARAVAN, EL KANTARA

Oil on board

99 by 122cm., 39 by 48in

Private collection

El Kantara is a town and commune in Biskra Province, Algeria. The 1911 Baedeker travel guide described it as "one of the most important caravan-stations in E. Algeria." The town is well known for the eponymous gorge nearby, described by locals as the "Mouth of the Desert" (see in the background). The area was named El Kantara by Arab conquerors. More on El Kantara

Jules Pierre van Biesbroeck (1873 - 1965) was a Belgian painter of landscapes and portraits, as well as sculptures.

He gained his artistic skills from his father Jules Evarist van Biesbroeck. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent.  Debuted in 1888 at the Salon des Champs-Elysées in Paris with his large-format painting "Le lancement d'Argos", which created a scandal. He was like his father, a professor of the Academy in Ghent. On a  trip to North Africa in 1926, he began to treat themes of the Orient. He experimented mainly with light effects in his paintings. Until 1935 he also maintained a studio in Algiers.

JP van Biesbroeck also had intensive contacts with the Socialist Workers' Movement in Ghent. More on Jules Pierre van Biesbroeck

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