01 Painting by the Orientalist Artists in the Nineteenth-Century, with footnotes, 58

Louis Theodore Devilly Metz, 1818; Nancy, 1886, France

The fight of Sidi Brahim, c. 1859

Oil on canvas

H. 192.6; L. 266.7

Museum of Fine Arts, Bordeaux

The subject of this painting was borrowed from the retelling of the fight of Sidi-Brahim (September 26, 1845) written by the Duke of Aumale for the Revue des Deux-Mondes. "The captain of Gérés, at the head of 73 men of the 1st company of the 8th battalion of foot hunters, carrying seven wounded, after having defended for 3 days in the marabout of Sidi-Brahim, without food and without water, against all the forces of Abd-El-Kader, try on September 26, 1845, at six o'clock in the morning, to make a bayonet day.After a heroic fight, exhausted forces and ammunition, all the brave men who formed the little column fall successively around the corps of their officers, Lieutenant Chapedelaine and the captain of Géraux". More on this painting

Louis Theodore Devilly Metz, 1818; Nancy, 1886, France

Detail, The fight of Sidi Brahim, c. 1859

Oil on canvas

H. 192.6; L. 266.7

Museum of Fine Arts, Bordeaux

Louis Theodore Devilly (born in Metz the 28 October 1818 and died in Nancy the 24 December 1886 ) was a French painter of the xix th  century . Member of the School of Metz , he moved to Nancy in 1871 , after the annexation . He is the author of paintings of romantic inspiration, sometimes orientalist subjects .

Louis-Théodore Devilly was born in Metz on October 28, 1818 1 . His father, Louis-Jean-Baptiste (1792-1826), who was a notable Messinian, a member of the Royal Academy of Metz, died in 1826.

From 1833 to 1835, Louis-Théodore Devilly attended the classes of Laurent-Charles Maréchal , the leader of the School of Metz. He then wins Paris , where he became a student of the painter Paul Delaroche at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Friend of Decamps, Aimé de Lemud , Diaz, Théophile Gautier, Devilly practiced the art of engraving and that of watercolor. He participated in the Salon of painting and sculpture of 1840 in Paris. He returned to Metz live his art in 1841. This did not prevent him to participate in other exhibitions, including at the 1852 Salon, where he received a silver medal. His contemporaries particularly appreciate his great realistic compositions, where his talents as a history painter can express himself fully.

In 1864, Louis-Théodore Devilly was appointed director of the Metz School of Fine Arts . After the Franco - German War of 1870 , Devilly opted for France and left his hometown, attached to the German Empire . He moved to Nancy, where he took the direction of the School of Fine Arts. After a busy career, Louis-Théodore Devilly died in Nancy on December 24 , 1886. More on Louis-Théodore Devilly

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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

Please visit my other blogs: Art Collector, Mythology, Marine Art, and The Canals of Venice

Images are copyright of their respective owners, assignees or others. Some Images may be subject to copyright

I don't own any of these images - credit is always given when due unless it is unknown to me. if I post your images without your permission, please tell me.

I do not sell art, art prints, framed posters or reproductions. Ads are shown only to compensate the hosting expenses.

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Thank you for visiting my blog and also for liking its posts and pages.