01 Painting by Orientalist Artist; Henry-Jean Pontoy's Watermelon seller, with footnotes, #101

Henry-Jean Pontoy

Watermelon seller

Oil on panel

69,5 x 39 cm ; 27 3/8 by 15 3/8 in.

Private collection

Estimate for 8,000 - 12,000 EUR in June 2017 

Henri Jean Pontoy was a French painter remembered as one of the last proponents of Neoclassical Orientalism. His best-known works depict urban North African scenes populated by local people and architecture rendered in warm, vibrant oil paint and watercolor. His interest in Orientalist themes followed his awarding of a scholarship from the Colonial Society of French Artists in 1926, which funded his travel to North and West Africa, in particular Tunisia and Morocco. Born in Reims, France on February 5, 1888, his work was included in several major exhibitions before his death in 1968, including an exhibition in Oran in 1925, and the Algerian artists Orientalist Salon in 1933 Algiers. More on Henri Jean Pontoy

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01 Painting by the Orientalist Artists in the Nineteenth-Century, with footnotes, 68

Raphael von Ambros, 1845-1895, AUSTRIAN

THE TOBACCO SELLER, CAIRO, c. 1891

Oil on panel

75 by 62cm., 29½ by 24¼in.

Private collection

Von Ambros depicts a busy tobacco stall outside a coffee shop in the streets of Cairo. On the left, two young men roll cigarettes which have been neatly hung by the merchant on his stall. On the right, a customer samples a cigarette, pondering a purchase. Above the stall on a shelf stand five glass narghile, or hookah vessels. Water pipes were an alternative method of tobacco consumption introduced to the Middle east and Europe from India. More on this painting

Born in Prague, Raphael von Ambros was a pupil of Hans Makart (1840-1884) at the famous Vienna Academy, where he would have studied alongside an extraordinary generation of Orientalist painters such as Jean Discart (French, 1856-1944), Ludwig Deutsch (1855-1935) and Rudolf Ernst (1854-1932). Like his contemporaries, Ambros found the perfect audience for his Cairo street scenes at the Paris Salon, where he exhibited from 1887. More on Raphael von Ambros

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, And visit my Boards on Pinterest

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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

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.

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