10 Orientalist Paintings by Artists from the 19th Century, with footnotes, 16

Orientalism is a term that is used for the depiction of aspects in Middle Eastern cultures. It refers to the works of the Western artists on Oriental subjects, produced from their travels in Western Asia, during the 19th century. Depictions of Islamic "Moors" and "Turks" can be found in Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque art. A creative apprehension of a completely different world with its own laws, customs, special attitude towards life and death, love, feelings, and beauty. Wikipedia/Yana Naumovna Lukashevskaya

Léon François Comerre (10 October 1850 – 20 February 1916)

An Eastern Beauty

oil on canvas

44 x 28 ¾ in. (111.8 x 73 cm.)

Private Collection

Léon François Comerre (10 October 1850 – 20 February 1916) was a French academic painter, famous for his portraits of beautiful women. Comerre was born in Trélon, in the Département du Nord, the son of a schoolteacher. He moved to Lille with his family in 1853. From an early age he showed an interest in art and became a student of Alphonse Colas at the École des Beaux-Arts in Lille, winning a gold medal in 1867. From 1868 a grant from the Département du Nord allowed him to continue his studies in Paris at the famous École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in the studio of Alexandre Cabanel. There he came under the influence of orientalism.

Comerre first exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1871 and went on to win prizes in 1875 and 1881. In 1875 he won the Grand Prix de Rome. This led to a scholarship at the French Academy in Rome from January 1876 to December 1879. In 1885 he won a prize at the "Exposition Universelle" in Antwerp. He also won prestigious art prizes in the USA (1876) and Australia (1881 and 1897). He became a Knight of the Legion of Honour in 1903.

 More Léon Comerre

Francisco de Goya,  (1746–1828)

The Second of May 1808 or The Charge of the Mamelukes, c. 1814

Oil on canvas

266 × 345 cm (104.7 × 135.8 in)

Prado Museum

May 02, 1808. Francisco de Goya witnessed first hand the French occupation of Spain in 1808, when Napoleon used the pretext of reinforcing his army in Portugal to seize the Spanish throne, leaving his brother Joseph in power. Attempts to remove members of the Spanish royal family from Madrid provoked a widespread rebellion. This popular uprising occurred between the second and third of May 1808, when suppressed by forces under Maréchal Joachim Murat. In this image: The Second of May 1808, also known as The Charge of the Mamelukes, a painting by the Spanish master Francisco de Goya. More The Second of May 1808

Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes[A] (30 March 1746 – 16 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of late 18th and early 19th centuries and throughout his long career was a commentator and chronicler of his era. Immensely successful in his lifetime, Goya is often referred to as both the last of the Old Masters and the first of the moderns. He was also one of the great portraitists of modern times. More on Francisco José de Goya

John Reinhard Weguelin,  (1849–1927)

The Obsequies of an Egyptian Cat, c. 1886

Oil on canvas

994 x 1425 x 85 mm

AUCKLAND ART GALLERY

A priestess offers gifts of food and milk to the spirit of a cat. On an altar stands the mummy of the deceased, and the tomb is decorated with frescoes, urns of fresh flowers, lotus blossoms, and statuettes. The priestess kneels as she wafts incense smoke toward the altar. In the background, a statue of Sekhmet or Bastet guards the entrance to the tomb. More this painting

In 1889 eight illustrations by J R Weguelin, although not this image, were published in The Cat of Bubastes: A Tale of Ancient Egypt, by the popular and prolific historical novelist G A Henty. The plot turns on the accidental killing of a sacred cat:

So esteemed were even the most common animals of the cat tribe that, if a cat happened to die in a house, the inhabitants went into mourning and shaved their eyebrows in token of their grief; the embalmers were sent for, the dead cat made into a mummy, and conveyed with much solemnity to the great catacombs set aside for the burial of the sacred animals. More Egyptian Cat

John Reinhard Weguelin,  (1849–1927)

The Bath, c. 1890

Oil on canvas

20 × 10 in (50.8 × 25.4 cm)

Private Collection

John Reinhard Weguelin RWS (June 23, 1849 – April 28, 1927) was an English painter and illustrator, active from 1877 to after 1910. He specialized in figurative paintings with lush backgrounds, typically landscapes or garden scenes. Weguelin emulated the neo-classical style of Edward Poynter and Lawrence Alma-Tadema, painting subjects inspired by classical antiquity and mythology. He depicted scenes of everyday life in ancient Greece and Rome, as well as mythological subjects, with an emphasis on pastoral scenes. Weguelin also drew on folklore for inspiration, and painted numerous images of nymphs and mermaids. 

Although his earliest work was in watercolour, all of Weguelin's important works from 1878 to 1892 were oil paintings. 

Weguelin's work was exhibited at the Royal Academy and a number of other important London galleries, and was highly regarded during his career. However, he was forgotten following the first World War, as his style of painting fell out of fashion. More John Reinhard Weguelin

Rudolf Ernst, VIENNE 1854 - 1932 PARIS, ÉCOLE AUTRICHIENNE

LANGUOROUS ORIENTAL LADY WITH A ROSE

Oil on panel

61 x 49 cm ; 24 by 19 1/4 in.

Private Collection

Rudolf Ernst (14 February 1854, Vienna - 1932, Fontenay-aux-Roses) was an Austro-French painter, printmaker and ceramics painter who is best known for his orientalist motifs. He exhibited in Paris under the name "Rodolphe Ernst".

He was the son of an architect and, encouraged by his father, began studies at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna at the age of fifteen. He spent some time in Rome, copying the old masters, and continued his lessons in Vienna with August Eisenmenger and Anselm Feuerbach.

In 1876, he settled in Paris. The following year, he participated in his first artists' salon. He later made trips to Spain, Morocco, Egypt and Constantinople to study and document what he saw there.

In 1905, he moved to Fontenay-aux-Roses where he set up a shop to produce faience tiles with orientalist themes. He decorated his home in Ottoman style and lived a reclusive life. His exact date of death was apparently not recorded. More Rudolf Ernst 

Rudolf Ernst, VIENNE 1854 - 1932 PARIS, ÉCOLE AUTRICHIENNE

LANGUOROUS ORIENTAL LADY 

Detail

Stephan Sedlacek, 1868 - 1936, AUSTRIAN

IN THE HAREM

Oil on canvas

82 by 129cm., 32 by 50½in.

Private Collection

Stephan Sedlacek : Czech, b. 1868 – d. 1936, a Victorian artist. Full detailed biography have been difficult to collect.

Sedlacek appears to have had quite a close understanding of the upper classes, with a few images of lower classes visiting fortune tellers, and a series on visiting an oriental harem, but for the most part Sedlacek seems to focus on capturing the opulence of the social activities of the elite. The people are small, wrapped in the finery of their fashion and surroundings, basking in the fortune that has smiled upon them. The scenes are calm, peaceful and very refined. An embodiment of the ideals of the era. More Stephan Sedlacek

Gustav Bauernfeind, 1848 - 1904, GERMAN

A WELL IN JAFFA, c. 1880 

Watercolour and pencil on paper

35.5 by 48cm., 14 by 19in.

Private Collection

The present work dates from Bauernfeind's first visit to Palestine in 1880. Although Jaffa was the main port of entry for travelers to Jerusalem, Bauernfeind was one of the few Orientalist artists to depict the city. More Jaffa

Jaffa is an ancient port city in Palistine. Jaffa is famous for its association with the biblical stories of Jonah, Solomon and Saint Peter as well as the mythological story of Andromeda and Perseus.

The town was mentioned in Egyptian sources and the Amarna letters as Yapu. Mythology says that it is named for Japheth, one of the sons of Noah, the one who built it after the Flood. The Hellenist tradition links the name to Iopeia, or Cassiopeia, mother of Andromeda. An outcropping of rocks near the harbor is reputed to have been the place where Andromeda was rescued by Perseus. Pliny the Elder associated the name with Iopa, daughter of Aeolus, god of the wind. The Arab geographer al-Muqaddasi referred to it as Yaffa. More Yaffa

Gustav Bauernfeind, 1848 - 1904, GERMAN

Market at Jaffa, 1877

Oil on canvas

Private Collection

Gustav Bauernfeind (4 September 1848, Sulz am Neckar - 24 December 1904, Jerusalem) was a German painter, illustrator and architect. He is considered to be one of the most notable Orientalist painters of Germany.

After completing his architectural studies in Stuttgart, he worked in the architectural firm of Professor Wilhelm Bäumer and later in that of Adolph Gnauth, where he also learned painting. In his earlier paintings, Bauernfeind focused on local views of Germany, as well as motifs from Italy. During his journey to the Levant from 1880 to 1882, he became interested in the Orient and repeated his travels again and again. In 1896 he moved with his wife and son all the way to Palestine and subsequently settled in Jerusalem in 1898. He also lived and worked in Lebanon and Syria.

Gustav Bauernfeind, 1848 - 1904, GERMAN

SENTINEL AT THE ENTRANCE TO THE TEMPLE MOUNT, JERUSALEM, c. 1883

Oil on panel

24 by 32cm., 9½ by 12½in.

Private Collection

His work is characterized primarily by architectural views of Jerusalem and the Holy Land. The paintings of Bauernfeind are mostly meticulously crafted, intricately composed and almost photographically accurate cityscapes and images of known sanctuaries in oil. In addition, he produced landscape scenes and watercolours. During his lifetime he was the most popular Orientalist painter of Germany, but soon fell into oblivion after his death. However, since the early 1980s, Bauernfeind was gradually rediscovered. At his birthplace in Sulz am Neckar, the life and work of the painter is commemorated by the Gustav Bauernfeind Museum with a large permanent exhibition. More Gustav Bauernfeind 

The Temple Mount, "Mount of the House [of God, known to Muslims as the Haram esh-Sharif,  "the Noble Sanctuary", is a hill located in the Old City of Jerusalem, is one of the most important religious sites in the world. It has been venerated as a holy site for thousands of years by Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The present site is dominated by three monumental structures from the early Umayyad period: the al-Aqsa Mosque, the Dome of the Rock and the Dome of the Chain, as well as four minarets. Herodian walls and gates with additions dating back to the late Byzantine and early Islamic periods cut through the flanks of the Mount. Currently it can be reached through eleven gates, ten reserved for Muslims and one for non-Muslims, with guard posts in the vicinity of each. More on The Temple Mount

The view is through the Bab as-Silsileh (Chain Gate) in the Temple Mount's western wall, with the Dome of the Rock beyond.

Jacques-Joseph Eeckhout, ANVERS 1793 - 1861 PARIS, ÉCOLE BELGE

THE SLAVE MERCHANT IN TURKEY, c. 1853

Oil on canvas

57,5 x 48 cm ; 22 5/8 by 18 7/8 in.

Private Collection

Jacobus Josephus Eeckhout (2 June 1793 – 25 December 1861) was a Flemish painter. He was born at Antwerp, and studied first at the Academy of that city. He painted historical and genre subjects, and portraits, and in 1829 he was elected a member of the Academies of Amsterdam, Antwerp, Brussels, and Rotterdam. He settled at the Hague in 1831, and in 1839 became director of the Academy in that city, and after staying at Mechlin and Brussels he went to live in Paris in 1859. He imitated Rembrandt with some skill, and may be considered one of the most distinguished painters of the modern Dutch school. His compositions are expressive and lively, and the colouring vigorous. More on Jacobus Josephus Eeckhout 

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10 Orientalist Paintings by Artists from the 19th Century, with footnotes, 12

Victor Huguet, 1835 - 1902

MARKET IN THE DESERT

Oil on canvas

66 by 86.5cm., 26 by 34in.

Private Collection

While Huguet’s desert scenes typically depict riders advancing through the landscape, or pausing briefly for a drink at a wadi, this particularly atmospheric, impressionistic example evokes the bustle of a gathered crowd. Clothed in burnous of varying designs and colours for protection from the harsh environment, in the foreground the figures are surrounded by a range of wares, from horse saddles, rugs and ceramics to livestock such as the trio of goats to the left. 

Victor Pierre Huguet , born Lude the 1 st May 1835 and died in Paris August 16, 1902, was a French, landscape and genre painter.. He was a pupil of Emile Loubon in Marseille and received advice from Fromentin in Paris.

In 1852, aged 17, he traveled to Egypt, then to Crimea where he accompanied Durand-Brager before the siege of Sebastopol. He was profoundly influenced by the landscapes he passes through and that will influence his inspiration to Orientalism, where he soon made a name. Discovering Algeria a few years later, he drew from many sources of inspiration.

He exhibited at the Salons de Marseille and Paris in 1859 and the Salon of French Orientalist Painters at its inception in 1893. He was the leading Orientalist artists of Provence. More Victor Pierre Huguet

Alberto Pasini, 1826 - 1899, ITALIAN

THE ROUT, c. 1884 lower right

Oil on canvas

82 by 121cm., 32¼ by 47¾in

Private Collection

Alberto Pasini (Busseto, 3 September 1826 – Cavoretto, 15 December 1899) was an Italian painter. He was enrolled at the age of 17 years, in the Academy of Fine Art of Parma, studying landscape painting and drawing. In Parma, he was helped early on by Antonio Pasini, who painted for the local nobility and collaborated with the publishing house established by Giovanni Battista Bodoni. By 1852, he exhibited a series of thirty designs, made into lithographs, depicting various castles around Piacenza, Lunigiana and Parma. He was noticed by the artist Paolo Toschi, who encouraged Pasini to travel to Paris, where Pasini first joined the workshop of Charles and Eugène Ciceri, of the so-called School of Barbizon.

Alberto Pasini, 1826 - 1899, ITALIAN

THE ROUT, c. 1884 lower right

Detail

In 1853 his lithograph of The Evening gained him admittance to the Paris Salon, and to the workshop of the famous Théodore Chassériau. The eruption of the Crimean War offered a new opportunity, when in February 1855, this latter painter recommended Pasini to replace him on the entourage of the French plenipotentiary minister Nicolas Prosper Bourée to Persia. Pasini accompanied him, returning through the north of Persia and Armenia before reaching the port of Trebizond. In subsequent trips, he visited Egypt, the Red Sea, Arabia, Istanbul, and Persia. Pasini parlayed his exposures during this trip into numerous highly detailed paintings of orientalist subjects. He left again for Istanbul in October 1867, summoned by the French Ambassador Bourée. He returned to Turkey in 1876 to execute the four paintings commissioned by Sultan Abdul Aziz. He was about to return to Istanbul the next year, when his patron, the Sultan, died.

In 1865, he spent some time in Cannes, painted landscapes of the Riviera. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, he returned to Italy, settling in Cavoretto, on the hills around Turin. He continued to travel, closer to his home, with trips to Venice and two sojourns in Spain in 1879 and 1883. More Alberto Pasini 

Eugen Bracht, 1842-1921, SWISS

REST IN THE SYRIAN DESERT, c. 1883

Oil on canvas

65 by 125cm., 25½ by 49¼in.

Private Collection

In this atmospheric work, a group of journeying men make a halt in the desert against the backdrop of a range of barren hills. The figure standing by his camel holds a spear, while his companions lie or sit in a circle talking. With great mastery, Bracht evokes the utter stillness and loneliness of the desert air. The broad viewpoint and photographic illusionism in the painting no doubt owe something to Bracht's work as a panorama painter in the early 1880s, notably on the landscape sections for the Sedan Panorama, commissioned to commemorate the Prussian victory in the Battle of Sedan in the Franco-Prussian War. More REST IN THE SYRIAN DESERT

Eugen Felix Prosper Bracht, (1842–1921)

"Memory of Gizeh", c. 1883 

Oil on wood

15.5 x 21.5 cm 

Private Collection

Eugen Felix Prosper Bracht (3 June 1842 – 5 November 1921) was a German landscape painter. Bracht was born in Morges, Waadt (near Lake Geneva in Switzerland) of German parents. They then moved to Darmstadt, Germany where he was a pupil of Karl Ludwig Seeger at the Academy of Fine Arts, Karlsruhe. Later he studied under Hans Gude in Düsseldorf. Dissatisfied with his work, in 1864 he moved to Berlin and became a merchant. In 1876 he decided to become a painter after all and he joined his former teacher in Karlsruhe. He mostly painted landscapes and was one of the famous painters of the late Romanticism in Germany.

He was known for landscapes and coastal scenes in North Germany, and in 1880 and 1881, he made a sketching trip through Syria, Palestine and Egypt. In 1882 he became a Professor of Landscape Painting at the Prussian Academy of Arts. In 1885 he painted the Battle of Chattanooga for the "Philadelphia Panorama Company", a cyclorama which was installed in Philadelphia and Kansas City.

Bracht was supported by Anton von Werner, the conservative director of the Berlin Academy, but broke off with him during the affair of the closure of Edvard Munch's Berlin exhibition in 1892.

When von Werner died, Bracht finished a panorama of the Battle of Sedan which Werner had begun. Later he became a representative of German Impressionism.

In 1901 he obtained a teaching position at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts that he held until 1919. After his retirement he lived in Darmstadt, where he died in 1921. More Eugen Felix Prosper Bracht 

Giulio Rosati, 1858 - 1917, ITALIAN

THE DANCE

Oil on canvas

52.5 by 82cm., 20¾ by 32¼in.

Private Collection

The wealth of intricate details, luxurious fabrics and the lyrical composition of The Dance showcase Rosati's exceptional skill at combining ethnographic accuracy with spontaneous brushstrokes. The artist's profound passion for the Orient is evident as much through the fascinating array of objects, materials and architecture as the varied characters and personalities he has chosen as his cast. Despite the conviction with which Rosati rendered his scene, the artist's journeys to the Middle East were purely metaphorical - he never visited the region instead relying on photographic evidence and souvenirs for his inspiration.

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.

Giulio Rosati, (Italian, 1858-1917) 

Bedouins preparing a raiding party, c. 1895

Watercolour on paper 

29¾ x 21 in. (75.5 x 54 cm.) 

Private Collection

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

Adolf Schreyer, 1828 - 1899, GERMAN

HORSEMEN AT A WATERING HOLE

Oil on canvas

67 by 87.5cm., 26¼ by 34½in.

Private Collection

Adolf Schreyer (July 9, 1828 Frankfurt-am-Main – July 29, 1899 Kronberg im Taunus) was a German painter, associated with the Düsseldorf school of painting. He studied art, first at the Städel Institute in his native town, and then at Stuttgart and Munich. He painted many of his favourite subjects in his travels in the East. He first accompanied Maximilian Karl, 6th Prince of Thurn and Taxis through Hungary, Wallachia, Russia and Turkey; then, in 1854, he followed the Austrian army across the Wallachian frontier. In 1856 he went to Egypt and Syria, and in 1861 to Algiers. In 1862 he settled in Paris, but returned to Germany in 1870; and settled at Cronberg near Frankfurt, where he died.

Schreyer was, and is still, especially esteemed as a painter of horses, of peasant life in Wallachia and Moldavia, and of battle incidents. His work is remarkable for its excellent equine draughtsmanship, and for the artist's power of observation and forceful statement; and has found particular favour among French and American collectors. Of his battle-pictures there are two at the Schwerin Gallery, and others in the collection of Count Mensdorff-Pouilly and in the Raven Gallery, Berlin.  More

Rudolf Ernst, 1854-1932, AUSTRIAN

THE PERFUME MAKERS

Oil on panel

55.5 by 45cm., 22 by 17¾in

Private Collection

The Perfume Makers is an evocation of perfect feminine conviviality and complicity. Two young women are seen working in harmony together; as one girl enters the room carrying a basket of roses, her companion plucks the petals and places them in the urn by her side, ready for crushing to extract their aromatic essence. While the scene is one of tranquility and modesty, the luxuriant and plentiful petals whose scent is almost palpable, the azur blue sky and distant sun-drenched seashore glimpsed through the doorway, the colourful tiles, and the eastern copper and earthenware lend the painting an unspoken sensuality and exotic atmosphere.

Despite their ethnographic detail, depictions of middle-eastern women like this are ultimately constructs of the artist's imagination, since Westerners would have been prohibited by local custom from observing many of the places and customs they painted. More The Perfume Makers

Rudolf Ernst (14 February 1854, Vienna - 1932, Fontenay-aux-Roses) was an Austro-French painter, printmaker and ceramics painter who is best known for his orientalist motifs. He exhibited in Paris under the name "Rodolphe Ernst".

He was the son of an architect and, encouraged by his father, began studies at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna at the age of fifteen. He spent some time in Rome, copying the old masters, and continued his lessons in Vienna with August Eisenmenger and Anselm Feuerbach.

In 1876, he settled in Paris. The following year, he participated in his first artists' salon. He later made trips to Spain, Morocco, Egypt and Constantinople to study and document what he saw there.

In 1905, he moved to Fontenay-aux-Roses where he set up a shop to produce faience tiles with orientalist themes. He decorated his home in Ottoman style and lived a reclusive life. His exact date of death was apparently not recorded. More Rudolf Ernst 

Alphonse Etienne Dinet (français, 1861 - 1929)

(UNKNOWN) THE PERFUME MAKER

Oil on canvas

65 x 81 cm. (25.6 x 31.9 in.)

Private Collection

Nasreddine Dinet (born as Alphonse-Étienne Dinet on 28 March 1861 – 24 December 1929, Paris) was a French orientalist painter. From 1871, he studied at the Lycée Henry IV, where the future president Alexandre Millerand was also among the students. Upon graduation in 1881 he enrolled in the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts and entered the studio of Victor Galland. The following year he studied under William Bouguereau and Tony Robert-Fleury at the Académie Julian. He also exhibited for the first time at the Salon des artistes français.

Dinet made his first trip to Bou Saâda by the Ouled Naïl Range in southern Algeria in 1884, with a team of entomologists. The following year he made a second trip on a government scholarship, this time to Laghouat.[1] At that time he painted his first two Algerian pictures: les Terrasses de Laghouat and l’Oued M’Sila après l’orage.

He won the silver medal for painting at the Exposition Universelle in 1889, and in the same year founded the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts along with Meissonier, Puvis de Chavannes, Rodin, Carolus-Duran and Charles Cottet. In 1887 he further founded with Léonce Bénédite, director of the Musée du Luxembourg, the Société des Peintres Orientalistes Français.

In 1903 he bought a house in Bou Saâda and spent three quarters of each year there. He announced his conversion to Islam in a private letter of 1908, and completed his formal conversion in 1913, upon which he changed his name to Nasr’Eddine Dinet. In 1929 he and his wife undertook the Hajj to Mecca. The respect he earned from the natives of Algeria was reflected by the 5,000 who attended his funeral on 12 January 1930 in Bou Saâda. There he was eulogized by the former Governor General of Algeria Maurice Viollette. More Nasreddine Dinet 

Georges Washington, 1827 - 1910, FRENCH

CAVALIERS ARABES

oil on canvas

66 by 92.5cm., 26 by 36½in

Private Collection

George Washington, born 15 September 1827 in Marseille and died November 19, 1901 in Douarnenez, was a French Orientalist painter. Like most aspiring artists, the young Georges Washington moved to Paris, where he trained at the Ecole des Beaux Arts under François-Edouard Picot (1786-1868). The artist’s exotic style was also indebted to Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863). Washington’s art conveys a similar feeling to the work of Eugène Fromentin (1820-76) who often painted naturalistic Middle Eastern scenes of rural and nomadic life. Washington’s love of the Middle East and its customs was further enhanced and encouraged by his father-in-law, the military and Orientalist painter Henri-Félix-Emmanuel Philippoteaux (1815-1884), whose daughter Anne-Léonie Philippoteaux married Washington in Paris on 6th August 1859.

Georges Washington, 1827 - 1910, FRENCH

CAVALIERS ARABES

dETAIL

Not long after finishing his training at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, Washington embarked on the first of a number of trips to Algeria and based on close observation of its inhabitants, their dress and customs in 1857 he made his Paris debut at the Salon des Artistes Français with a view of nomads titled Plaine du Hoiina (Sahara Algérien). From then up until 1901 Washington continued to be a popular exhibitor at the Salon; one of his first works shown there to gain critical acclaim was Nomades dans le Sahara en Hiver. In addition to Paris, Washington also showed his work in Moscow in 1881 and was later posthumously honoured when four of his paintings were included in the Exposition Coloniale de Marseille in 1906.

Following two commissions from a Belgian company, he travelled to Morocco and then subsequently visited Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey, which were to inspire his varied subjects including battle scenes and cavalry skirmishes. His travels also took him to America for the unveiling in Philadelphia of a cyclorama (a monumental 360° panoramic view) of the Battle of Gettysburg by his brother-in-law Paul-Dominique Philippoteaux (1846-1923).

Following the death of his wife he retired to live with his daughter and son-in-law at Douarnenez on the Brittany coast, where he died shortly after on 19th November 1901. More George Washington

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06 Orientalist Paintings by Artists from the 19th Century, with footnotes, #13

Orientalism is a term that is used for the depiction of aspects in Middle Eastern cultures. It refers to the works of the Western artists on Oriental subjects, produced from their travels in Western Asia, during the 19th century. Depictions of Islamic "Moors" and "Turks" can be found in Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque art. A creative apprehension of a completely different world with its own laws, customs, special attitude towards life and death, love, feelings, and beauty. Wikipedia/Yana Naumovna Lukashevskaya

Rudolf Ernst, 1854 - 1932, AUSTRIAN

THE ARMS MERCHANT

Oil on panel

61 by 49cm., 24 by 19¼in

Private Collection

Rudolf Ernst’s The Arms Merchant focuses on all manner of closely observed weaponry, from the yataghan sword being inspected by the prospective customer, to the ivory-hilted kard (dagger), curved shamshir (sword), and Caucasian flintlock pistol on display on the floor. 

Rudolf Ernst, 1854 - 1932, AUSTRIAN

THE ARMS MERCHANT

Detail

Nearby, the merchant’s hookah pipe rests against the folds of the rug. The composition perfectly captures a Middle Eastern side street, the merchant’s canopy adorned with decorative ostrich egg pendants. Painted when Ernst was thirty-one, the present work is among the artist’s early Orientalist works, inspired by his recent travels to Egypt. Almost all his paintings were executed in his studio in Paris, which he decorated in an Eastern style and filled with the sketches and props he accumulated on his travels. More ARMS MERCHANT

Rudolf Ernst, 1854 - 1932, AUSTRIAN

THE ARMS MERCHANT

Detail

Rudolf Ernst (14 February 1854, Vienna – 1932, Fontenay-aux-Roses) was an Austro-French painter, printmaker and ceramics painter who is best known for his orientalist motifs. He exhibited in Paris under the name "Rodolphe Ernst"

He was the son of the architect Leopold Ernst and, encouraged by his father, began studies at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna at the age of fifteen. He spent some time in Rome, copying the old masters, and continued his lessons in Vienna with August Eisenmenger and Anselm Feuerbach.

In 1876, he settled in Paris. The following year, he participated in his first artists' salon. He later made trips to Spain, Morocco, Egypt and Istanbul to study and document what he saw there.

In 1905, he moved to Fontenay-aux-Roses where he set up a shop to produce faience tiles with orientalist themes. He decorated his home in Ottoman style and lived a reclusive life. His exact date of death was apparently not recorded. More on Rudolf Ernst

Josep Tapiró Baró, 1836 - 1913, SPANISH

THE YOUNG RECRUITS

Watercolour and gouache

49.5 by 70cm., 19½ by 27½in.

Private Collection

Depicting a group of young boys playing city guards on the ramparts of the city fortifications built around the Medina of Tangiers by Pasha Er Riffi, The Young Recruits displays Tapiró's love of detailed, ethnographic observation, as well as his technical accomplishment in his chosen medium. More YOUNG RECRUITS

Josep Tapiró i Baró (17 February 1836, Reus - 4 October 1913, Tangier) was a Catalonian painter; best known for his watercolor portraits from Morocco. His first formal studies were in 1849 with Domènec Soberano, a local wine merchant and amateur painter. In 1853, he was given the opportunity to exhibit at a showing held by the Casino de Reus.

Later that year, he enrolled at the Escola de la Llotja. At this time, he produced mostly historical and religious scenes. In 1857 Tapiró moved to Madrid, where he enrolled at the "Escuela Superior de Pintura y Grabado", a branch of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando. He returned to Barcelona in 1860 and assisted with decorating the façade at the Palau de la Generalitat de Catalunya.

Josep Tapiró, (1836 - 1913)

Berber Bride, circa 1896

Watercolour on paper

Height: 688 mm (27.09 in). Width: 476 mm (18.74 in).

Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya

In 1862, he joined his friend, Fortuny, in Rome and was introduced to his circle of artistic acquaintances. They also visited Naples and Florence. While there, he took evening classes to learn how to paint watercolors and his works began to focus more on genre themes. These works became very popular and established his reputation.

In 1871 he took a trip to Tangier. This would prove decisive for his career. In 1873, he held his first showing of Orientalist paintings at the "International Art Circle of Rome".

His memories of Tangier led him to join a diplomatic mission on its way to meet with Sultan Hassan I in 1876. Once there, he moved into a newly-built home near the medina quarter. He would live in Tangier for the rest of his life.

His health problems eventually led to his death in 1913. More Josep Tapiró i Baró 

Eugène Verdyen, 1836 - 1903, BELGIAN

A LADY OF SMYRNA

Oil on canvas

65 by 80cm., 25½ by 31½in.

Private Collection

Smyrna was an Ancient Greek city located at a central and strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. This place is known today as İzmir, Turkey. Due to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to prominence. More Smyrna

Eugène Verdyen lived from 1836 to 1903.  Born in Liège, Eugène Verdyen studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels, where he worked as a professor later.  Verdyen went on study trips to Italy, North Africa and Turkey.  His favorite depictions were landscapes and portraits.  In addition, he painted numerous genre scenes. More Eugène Verdyen

Georges Washington, 1827 - 1910, FRENCH

CROSSING THE FORD

Oil on canvas

55.5 by 81cm., 22 by 32in

Private Collection

George Washington, born 15 September 1827 in Marseille and died November 19, 1901 in Douarnenez, was a French Orientalist painter. Like most aspiring artists, the young Georges Washington moved to Paris, where he trained at the Ecole des Beaux Arts under François-Edouard Picot (1786-1868). The artist’s exotic style was also indebted to Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863). Washington’s art conveys a similar feeling to the work of Eugène Fromentin (1820-76) who often painted naturalistic Middle Eastern scenes of rural and nomadic life. Washington’s love of the Middle East and its customs was further enhanced and encouraged by his father-in-law, the military and Orientalist painter Henri-Félix-Emmanuel Philippoteaux (1815-1884), whose daughter Anne-Léonie Philippoteaux married Washington in Paris on 6th August 1859.

Georges Washington (French 1827-1910)

The Skirmish

Oil on canvas

23.5″ x 19.75″

Private Collection

Not long after finishing his training at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, Washington embarked on the first of a number of trips to Algeria and based on close observation of its inhabitants, their dress and customs in 1857 he made his Paris debut at the Salon des Artistes Français with a view of nomads titled Plaine du Hoiina (Sahara Algérien). From then up until 1901 Washington continued to be a popular exhibitor at the Salon; one of his first works shown there to gain critical acclaim was Nomades dans le Sahara en Hiver. In addition to Paris, Washington also showed his work in Moscow in 1881 and was later posthumously honoured when four of his paintings were included in the Exposition Coloniale de Marseille in 1906.

Following two commissions from a Belgian company, he travelled to Morocco and then subsequently visited Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey, which were to inspire his varied subjects including battle scenes and cavalry skirmishes. His travels also took him to America for the unveiling in Philadelphia of a cyclorama (a monumental 360° panoramic view) of the Battle of Gettysburg by his brother-in-law Paul-Dominique Philippoteaux (1846-1923).

Following the death of his wife he retired to live with his daughter and son-in-law at Douarnenez on the Brittany coast, where he died shortly after on 19th November 1901. More George Washington

Please visit my other blogs: Art Collector, Mythology, Marine Art, Portrait of a Lady, The Orientalist, Art of the Nude and The Canals of Venice, Middle East Artists, 365 Saints and 365 Days, also visit my Boards on Pinterest

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