18 Classic Works of Art, Marine and Seascape Paintings - with footnotes -11

DEREK GEORGE MONTAGUE GARDNER, (British, 1914-2007)

The battle between the H.M.S. Shannon and the U.S.S. Chesapeake 

Oil on Canvas

13-1/4 x 19 in. (33.6 x 48.2 cm.)

This painting: During the War of 1812, the duel between the Royal Navy's frigate H.M.S. Shannon and the American frigate Chesapeake became a critical moment of the war. Cruising off the eastern seaboard in May, Captain Philip Broke of the Shannon had spotted the American frigates Chesapeake and Constitution refitting in Boston. Broke immediately challenged Captain Lawrence of the Chesapeake to come out and fight, sending a verbal challenge. However, this challenge went unanswered and Broke soon began to despair of Chesapeake ever leaving the harbor, and so he later sent a written challenge, and at noon on 1st June 1813, the Chesapeake stood out of Boston Roads for battle. A furious action followed lasting a mere fifteen minutes; Captain Broke was mortally wounded leading his boarding party, and casualties on both vessels were very high. Soon overwhelmed, Chesapeake surrendered and Shannon took her as a prize into Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Derek George Montague Gardner (13 February 1914 – 11 February 2007) is best known as an English painter. After a career as a civil engineer before and after serving in the Royal Navy in the Second World War, he became widely recognised as one of the leading English painters of marine subjects.

He was educated at Oundle School, where he won a prize for his drawing. He left school in 1931, and trained as a civil engineer in Glasgow with the London Midland & Scottish Railway. He later joined Sir William Arrol & Co. He joined the RNVR as a 20-year-old midshipman, and took up painting watercolours of warships. He became a docks engineer at North Shields in 1938. More

Derek George Montague Gardner (British, 1914-2007)

The H.M.S. Suberb 

Watercolor on paper

9-1/2 x 13-3/4 in. (24.1 x 34.9 cm.)

HMS Superb was a 74-gun Bellona-class third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 27 October 1760 at Deptford Dockyard. The Superb was Admiral Edward Hughes's flagship in India in 1782 during a notable series of engagements with the French under Suffren.

On 20 June 1783 Bellona took part in the Battle of Cuddalore before returning to Bombay for copper sheathing along her hull. On 7 November she developed a severe leak through the sheathing into the bilge, and sank in Tellicherry Roads off the Bombay coast. More

Derek George Montague Gardner (British, 1914-2007)

The H.M.S. Royal Sovereign off of Fort Manoel, Valletta, Malta 

Watercolor on paper

13-1/2 x 20 in. (34.2 x 50.8 cm.

HMS Royal Sovereign was a 100-gun first rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, which served as the flagship of Admiral Collingwood at the Battle of Trafalgar (see below). She was the third of seven Royal Navy ships to bear the name. Designed by Sir Edward Hunt, she was launched at Plymouth Dockyard on 11 September 1786, at a cost of £67,458, and was the only ship built to her draught. She was known by her crew as the "West Country Wagon" due to her poor manoeuvrability and speed. More

Nicholas Pocock (1740–1821)

H.M.S. Euryalus, c. 1810

Watercolor and pen with black Indian ink on paper

17.6 × 27.5 cm (6.9 × 10.8 in)

National Maritime Museum, London, United Kingdom

Storm, the Day after the Battle of Trafalgar, the "Victory" under courses endeavouring to Clear the Land. The "Royal Sovereign" in Tow by the "Euryalus". The view is towards the coast of Spain off Cadiz, with the lighthouse at Rota in the centre left distance, and 'Victory' heading towards it in stern view over the tow-line. To the right are disabled enemy ships, including prizes, some being cast away in the post-Trafalgar storm. More

HMS Euryalus was a Royal Navy 36-gun Apollo-class frigate, which saw service in the Battle of Trafalgar and the War of 1812. During her career she was commanded by three prominent naval personalities of the Napoleonic and post-Napoleonic period, Henry Blackwood, George Dundas and Charles Napier. After the end of the Napoleonic Wars she continued on active service for a number of years, before spending more than two decades as a prison hulk. She ended her career in Gibraltar where, in 1860, she was sold for breaking up. More

HMS Victory is a 104-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, ordered in 1758, laid down in 1759 and launched in 1765. She is best known as Lord Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.

She was also Keppel's flagship at Ushant, Howe's flagship at Cape Spartel and Jervis's flagship at Cape St Vincent. After 1824, she served as a harbour ship.

In 1922, she was moved to a dry dock at Portsmouth, England, and preserved as a museum ship. She has been the flagship of the First Sea Lord since October 2012 and is the world's oldest naval ship still in commission. More

Nicholas Pocock (2 March 1740 – 9 March 1821) was a British artist known for his many detailed paintings of naval battles during the age of sail. Pocock was born in Bristol in 1740, the son of a seaman. He followed his father's profession and was master of a merchant ship by the age of 26. During his time at sea, he became a skilled artist by making ink and wash sketches of ships and coastal scenes for his log books.

In 1778, Pocock's employer, Richard Champion, became financially insolvent due to the effects of the American Revolutionary War on transatlantic trade. As a result, Pocock gave up the sea and devoted himself to painting. The first of his works were exhibited by the Royal Academy in 1782.

Later that year, Pocock was commissioned to produce a series of paintings illustrating George Rodney's victory at the Battle of the Saintes. In 1789, he moved to London, where his reputation and contacts continued to grow. He was a favourite of Samuel Hood and was appointed Marine Painter to King George.

Pocock's naval paintings incorporated extensive research, including interviewing eyewitnesses about weather and wind conditions as well as the positions, condition, and appearance of their ships; and drawing detailed plans of the battle and preliminary sketches of individual ships. He was also present himself at the Glorious First of June in 1794, on board the frigate HMS Pegasus.

In addition to his large-scale oil paintings depicting naval battles, Pocock also produced many watercolours of coastal and ship scenes. More

DEREK GEORGE MONTAGUE GARDNER, (British, 1914-2007)

Nelson's Santa Cruz Squadron

Watercolor on paper

15 x 20 in. (38.1 x 50.8 cm.)

The Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife was an amphibious assault by the Royal Navy on the Spanish port city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Canary Islands. Launched by Rear-Admiral Horatio Nelson on 22 July 1797, the assault was defeated, and on 25 July the remains of the landing party withdrew under a truce, having lost several hundred men. Nelson himself had been wounded in the arm, which was subsequently partially amputated: a stigma that he carried to his grave as a constant reminder of his failure. More

Richard Westall (1765–1836)

Nelson wounded at Tenerife, 24 July 1797, c. 1806

Oil on canvas

86.6 × 71 cm (34.1 × 28 in)

National Maritime Museum, London, United Kingdom

In the painting, Nelson's barge is shown beached in the surf, in port-bow view. Hit on the point of landing he reeled and staggered back into the boat where he lies, having transferred his sword to his left hand. He is supported by a sailor and there is blood on the sailor's shirt and on the lining of Nelson's coat. Lieutenant Josiah Nisbet, Nelson's stepson, stands behind him and is saving his life by staunching the blood. Behind him and to the left are two other lieutenants. Also in the barge and to the right of the group is a third lieutenant grasping a boarding pike, with two sailors behind him. In the left foreground standing in the shallow water is Captain Thompson, arms outstretched towards Nelson, together with another lieutenant. In the left background is a bow view of another boat approaching the beach. In the right foreground the artist has used the waves to enhance the dramatic impact. Westall has conveyed the staged effect by employing a dramatic language of gesture and expression. This painting of the incident was made in 1806. It was commissioned by John M'Arthur, as a plate for 'The Life of Admiral Lord Nelson, KB', which he published with James Stanier Clarke in 1809, and which was the first major biography of Nelson. More

Richard Westall RA (2 January 1765 – 4 December 1836) was an English painter and illustrator of portraits, historical and literary events, best known for his portraits of Byron. He was also Queen Victoria's drawing master. Born oin Reepham near Norwich, Richard Westall moved to London after the death of his mother and the bankruptcy of his father in 1772. Westall was apprenticed to a heraldic silver engraver in 1779, where he was encouraged to become a painter by John Alefounder; he then began studying at the Royal Academy School of Arts from 10 December 1785. He exhibited at the Academy regularly between 1784 and 1836, became an Associate in November 1792 and was elected an Academician on 10 February 1794. From 1790 to 1795 he shared a house with Thomas Lawrence (later Sir), the future Royal Academy president, each of the artists placing their name on one of the entrances. More

Samuel Atkins (British, fl.1787-1808)

The loss of the Romney 

watercolor and pencil, heightened with body color 

9-1/4 x 13-3/4 in. (23.4 x 34.9 cm.),

The loss of the Romney, 50 guns off the Texel on the evening of November 19th 1804. Showing the flag of truce run up when calling on enemy boats for assistance.

HMS Romney was a 50-gun fourth rate of the Royal Navy. She served during the American War of Independence, and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars in a career that spanned forty years.

Launched in 1762, the Romney spent most of her early career in North American waters, serving on the Newfoundland station, often as the flagship of the commander-in-chief. The ship was involved in the tensions leading up to the American Revolution when she was sent to support the Boston commissioners enforcing the Townshend Acts in 1768. Her actions involved impressing local sailors, confiscating a vessel belonging to John Hancock and providing a refuge for the unpopular commissioners when rioting broke out. She remained in American waters for part of the ensuing war, but towards the end operated in European waters after the French entry to the conflict.


The Romney was laid up in ordinary or under repair for most of the subsequent years of peace, but returned to active service on the outbreak of war with Revolutionary France. She was in the Mediterranean supporting Lord Hood's occupation of Toulon in 1793, and remained there for several years. During this time she captured the 44-gun French Sibylle. The Romney briefly returned to North America and then served in the Red Sea. Assigned to blockade the Dutch coast, the Romney ran aground in November 1804 while sailing to join the fleet off Den Helder. She broke up after attempts to float her off failed. More

Samuel Atkins (fl. 1787–1808), was a British marine painter. Atkins contributed to the Royal Academy between 1787 and 1796. From 1796 to 1804 he was in the East Indies, when he returned to England, and continued to exhibit until 1808. He worked in oil and water-colour. The water-colour collections of South Kensington and the British Museum have each an example of his work. It is rather early in manner, low in tone, quiet, and truthful. A picture of ‘Shakespeare's Cliff, Dover,’ has been engraved after him by R. and D. Havell. Nagler attributes to this Samuel Atkins the originals of two engravings of sea-subjects after ‘— Atkins:’ ‘Ships in Sight of Harbour,’ engraved in aquatint by H. Merke; and ‘A Sea Piece,’ by F. Janinet. A water-colour drawing also, ‘Seascape with Ships,’ he gives to this painter. More

Samuel Atkins (British, fl.1787-1808)

The blockade of Toulon

depicting three British frigates on a reach, holding a battle line.

signed lower left: "Atkins"

watercolor on paper

14-1/2 x 21 in. (36.8 x 53.3 cm.)

The Action of 5 November 1813 was a brief naval clash during the Napoleonic Wars, between part of the British Mediterranean Fleet led by Vice-Admiral Sir Edward Pellew, and a French force under Rear-Admiral Julien Cosmao-Kerjulien. The engagement took place outside the French port of Toulon.

The clash occurred when a French fleet under Vice-Admiral Maxime Julien Émeriau de Beauverger took advantage of a favourable wind and the temporary absence of the British blockading force, to leave port to carry out exercises. Émeriau abandoned the exercises when the wind changed, but while returning to port his rear came under attack from the recently returned British inshore squadron. The British attack was reinforced by newly arrived ships from the main fleet, but the French were able to escape into Toulon after exchanging cannon fire with the British. Casualties on both sides were light. More

Thomas Luny (1759–1837)

Blockade of Toulon, 1810-1814: Pellew's action, 5 November 1813, c. 1830

Oil on canvas

85.1 × 128.3 cm (33.5 × 50.5 in)

National Maritime Museum, London , United Kingdom

Thomas Luny (1759–1837), born in Cornwall, was an English artist and painter, mostly of seascapes and other marine-based works. At the age of eleven, Luny left Cornwall to live in London. There he became the apprentice of Francis Holman, a marine painter who would have a great and long lasting artistic influence on Luny.

In September 1777, Luny left Holman's studio for a while, to journey to France. It was around this time that Luny was frequently exhibiting at the Royal Academy, in a total of twenty-nine exhibitions between 1780 and 1802. In Leadenhall Street, Luny became acquainted with a "Mr. Merle", a dealer and framer of paintings who promoted Luny's paintings for over twenty years, to great success. Luny also found a wealthy source of business in Leadenhall Street, where the British East India Company had their headquarters; their officers commissioned many paintings and portraits from Luny. This relationship between the Company and Luny also had several non-monetary benefits for Luny; it seems probable that, considering the great detail and realistic look of many of his sketches of locations such as Naples, Gibraltar, and Charleston, South Carolina, Luny was occasionally invited as a guest on the Company's ships on special occasions and voyages.

Several years later, in 1807, Luny decided to move again, this time to Teignmouth in Devon. There he received a number of commissions, and he continued to be as successful in his work as he had been in London. Luny was by that time suffering with arthritis in both of his hands. This had no obvious impact on the quality or pace of his artistic work. In fact, of his lifetime oeuvre of over 3,000 works, over 2,200 were produced between 1807 and his death. He died on 30 September 1837. More

Thomas Luny (1759–1837)

Bombardment of Algiers by Lord Exmouth in August 1816, c. 1820

Oil on canvas

122 × 183 cm (48 × 72 in)

The Bombardment of Algiers (27 August 1816) was an attempt by Britain to end the slavery practices of the Dey of Algiers. An Anglo-Dutch fleet under the command of Admiral Lord Exmouth bombarded ships and the harbour defences of Algiers.

There was a continuing campaign by various European navies and the American navy to suppress the piracy against Europeans by the North African Barbary states. The specific aim of this expedition, however, was to free Christian slaves and to stop the practice of enslaving Europeans. To this end, it was partially successful, as the Dey of Algiers freed around 3,000 slaves following the bombardment and signed a treaty against the slavery of Europeans. However, this slavery did not end completely until the European conquest of Africa. More

Martinus Schouman (1770–1848)

The bombardment of Algiers, to support the ultimatum for the release of white slaves 26-27 August 1816, c. 1823

Oil on Cloth

95 × 159.5 cm (37.4 × 62.8 in)

Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Martinus Schouman (1770– 1848) was a 19th-century painter from the Northern Netherlands. Schouman was born in Dordrecht. According to the RKD he was the pupil and grandnephew of Aert Schouman and the brother of Aert II. His pupils were Pieter Arnout Dijxhoorn, Jan de Greef (1784-1834), Pieter Martinus Gregoor, Matthijs Quispel, Johannes Christiaan Schotel, and his son Izaak Schouman. He is known for marines and landscapes and was a member of the Dordrecht artist's society Pictura and the Royal society of the fine arts in Brussels. He died in Breda. More

Martinus Schouman (1770–1848)

The Dutch and English fleets meet on the way to Boulogne, c. 1805

Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands

This painting documents the meeting of the British and Dutch fleets during the later stages of Napoleon's planning for his invasion of Britain. 

HAUGHTON FORREST (1826-1925) 
Wreck of Sir Robert Peel, Eliza and Pandora, Tynemouth 1854 
oil on board 
titled and dated verso 
30.5 x 46.5cm 

Extract from Captain Champion's letter to Messrs. Gilchrist and Alexander, the agents for the vessel :

"With feelings of deep regret I have to inform you the ship Sir Robert Peel is on shore, and likely to become a total wreck, at a place called Avoca Bay, as I am informed by a shepherd distant from Sydney Heals about fifty miles north. We have had the weather exceedingly stormy and thick fogs, and when the ship struck by our reckoning we were fifty miles from land and in the latitude of Sydney, so that in two days we have had a current setting to the north upwards of sixty mile's."

The Rose did not arrive from Morpeth, until one p.m. on Thursday. The Tamar having conveyed the intelligence of the Sir Robert Peel being on shore, Captain Pattison put into Broken Bay, and despatched the chief officer to the Customs Station, when Mr. Williams and his boats' crew accompanied them overland to the wreck, a distance of about eight miles. Nothing more had occurred than what had already been reported. and having found that the Thistle had been there they returned, finding that no assistance was required. More

Haughton Forrest (30 December 1826 – 20 January 1925) was an Australian artist. He was born in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France and subsequently lived in Berkshire, Jamaica and Germany, before obtaining a commission in the Honourable Artillery Company and later the 31st Royal Monmouth Light Infantry. He married in 1858 and moved to Brazil in 1875 before migrating to Tasmania. He held a number of municipal appointments in Sorell, including Superintendent of Police, before moving to Wellington Hamlets, near Hobart in 1881, devoting himself fully to art.

Forrest painted both marine scenes and landscapes. In 1899, his pictures of Mount Wellington and Hobart were included in the first set of pictorial stamps produced in Australia. More

A.V. GREGORY (1867-1957) 

The Monah, Crossing the Bass Strait 1908 

gouache and watercolour on paper 

signed and dated lower right: A.V. GREGORY '08 

30.5 x 53cm

The Bass Strait Triangle is the waters that separate the states of Victoria and Tasmania, including Bass Strait, in south-eastern Australia. The term Bass Strait Triangle (inspired by the Bermuda Triangle) appears to have been first used following the Valentich Disappearance in 1978 although the region had a bad reputation (never ascribed to supernatural forces, however) long before that.

Arthur Victor Gregory  (1867-1957), was an Australian visual artist who was born in 1867. Numerous works by the artist have been sold at auction, including 'Off Point Lonsdale Through the Rip (The Majanka)' sold at Leonard Joel, Melbourne 'European and Australian Art' in 2008. The artist died in 1957. More

A.V. GREGORY (1867-1957) 
The S.S. Laranah 1915 
gouache and watercolour on paper 
signed and dated lower left: A.V. GREGORY 15
30.5 x 53cm

LARANAH 701 gross tons. Lb: 54.9 x 8.6 metres. Steel, single screw cargo ship built as the Island Queen by De Merwede at Hardinxveld for Shipping Investments Co Ltd (C.H.Pile), London, aka British Channel Island Shipping Co. Date of completion: 18 March 1914. Triple expansion engine making 8.5 knots. 1914 Sold to W.Holyman & Sons. Served WW2. Sold 1956 to Panama interests. Fate: hit object & sank 10nm N Lubang Island, South-West of Manilla 8th October 1959 (another source states sank 18 October 1959) More

A.V. GREGORY (1867-1957) 

The Marrawah - Passing Point Lonsdale 1911 

gouache and watercolour on paper 

signed and dated lower left: A. V. GREGORY 11

29 x 52cm

MARRAWAH 600 gross tons. Lb: 179.2' x 29.1' x 11.2' (50.3 x 8.6 metres). Steel steamship, passenger-cargo as built by Van Vliet at Hardinxveld for Shipping Investments Ltd (C H Pile), London. Single screw, triple expansion engine, 87 nhp. 19?? purchased by Holyman & Sons, Launceston. Began a regular service to Naracoopa jetty, King Island 1916. Known definitely December 1920 as trading between Melbourne and Stanley on Tasmania's North-west coast, via King Island in Bass Strait. Sold to Howard Smith in 1936. Serviced Bundaberg - Brisbane transporting sugar. November 1941 requisitioned as a minesweeper in Bass Strait. February 1943 and passed to U S Navy control (small ships). Returned to owners at War's end and laid up. 1947 sold to Riverside Dock & Engineering Co., Sydney. Stripped at Sydney 1950 and made as an Australian miltiary target off Sydney Heads 10th May 1951. More



Images are copyright of their respective owners, assignees or others

21 Paintings by the Orientalist Artists, with foot notes, 5

ALBANIAN GUARDS IN BURSA, TURKEY

By John Frederick Lewis

Watercolour over pencil, heightened with bodycolour, black chalk

Premium Access - Upgrade Now >>

19.69 X 14.57 in (50 X 37 cm)

John Frederick Lewis RA (London 14 July 1804 – 15 August 1876) was an Orientalist English painter. He specialized in Oriental and Mediterranean scenes in exquisitely detailed watercolour or oils. Lewis lived for several years in a traditional mansion in Cairo, and after his return to England in 1851 he specialized in highly detailed works showing both realistic genre scenes of Middle Eastern life and more idealized scenes in upper class Egyptian interiors with no traces of Western cultural influence yet apparent.


His very careful and loving representation of Islamic architecture, furnishings, screens, and costumes set new standards of realism, which influenced other artists, including the leading French Orientalist painter Jean-Léon Gérôme in his later works. Unlike many other Orientalist painters who took a salacious interest in the women of the Middle East, he "never painted a nude", and his wife modelled for several of his harem scenes. These, with the rare examples by the classicist painter Lord Leighton, imagine "the harem as a place of almost English domesticity, ... [where]... women's fully clothed respectability suggests a moral healthiness to go with their natural good looks" More

SEATED ARAB MERCHANT AT SUEZ

By John Frederick Lewis

Watercolour over black chalk, heightened with bodycolour and gum arabic

13.78 X 17.32 in (35 X 44 cm)

AN OLD SULIOTE

By John Frederick Lewis

Watercolour, black chalk and bodycolour on buff-coloured paper

14.96 X 10.83 in (38 X 27.5 cm)

INTERIOR OF SULTANAHMET CAMII (THE BLUE MOSQUE), CONSTANTINOPLE

By John Frederick Lewis

Watercolour over pencil

21.26 X 14.76 in (54 X 37.5 cm)

OUTDOOR GOSSIP, CAIRO, c. 1873

By John Frederick Lewis

Oil on board

12.01 X 7.87 in (30.5 X 20 cm)

THE DOUBTFUL COIN, c. 1869

After John Frederick Lewis

Watercolour and gouache

8.07 X 9.37 in (20.5 X 23.8 cm)

THE WADI AT BOU SAADA, c1893

By Eugène-Alexis Girardet

Oil on canvas

26.77 X 42.91 in (68 X 109 cm)

Eugène Alexis Girardet (31 May 1853, Paris - 5 May 1907, Paris) was a French Orientalist painter. He came from a Swiss Huguenot family. His father was the engraver Paul Girardet (1821-1893). He studied at the École des Beaux-arts and in the studios of Jean-Léon Gérôme, who encouraged him to visit North Africa in 1874.

In all, he made eight trips to Algeria after 1879, especially to the south, around the oases of Biskra, El Kantara and Bou Saâda, where he worked with Étienne Dinet. In 1898, he visited Egypt and Palestine, producing many works depicting the lives of desert nomads.

He exhibited regularly at the Salon and with the Société des Peintres Orientalistes Français (of which he was one of the founding members), with major shows at the Exposition Universelle (1900) and the Exposition Coloniale de Marseille of 1906.

In addition to several museums in France, his works may also be seen at the Dahesh Museum of Art and the National Museum of Fine Arts of Algiers. More

THE PASSING CARAVAN

By Eugène-Alexis Girardet

Oil on board

 27 X 43.5 in (68.58 X 110.49 

LE CORDONNIER, c. 1887

By Eugène-Alexis Girardet

Oil on board

13.19 X 15.16 in (33.5 X 38.5 cm)

Eugène Alexis Girardet 

Le marchand de fruits, 1874

Oil on canvasSize:55 x 38 cm. (21.7 x 15 in.)

MARKETPLACE AT THE ENTRANCE TO A BAZAAR, CONSTANTINOPLE

By Alberto Pasini

Oil on linen

15.25 X 18.25 in (38.74 X 46.36 cm)

Alberto Pasini (Busseto, 3 September 1826 – Cavoretto, 15 December 1899) was an Italian painter. He is best known for depicting Orientalist subjects in a late-Romantic style. His father was a commissioner for his district, a post analogous to a sub-prefect. But orphaned of father in 1828, his mother moved to Parma, where 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 Alberto's uncle, the painter and manuscript illuminator, 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.

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, (1826/1899)

Market Day in Constantinople, c. 1877

Berkshire Museum,  Pittsfield, MA, United States

Alberto Pasini, (1826 - 1899)

Horse market, Syria

Oil on canvas

Height: 840 mm (33.07 in). Width: 1,030 mm (40.55 in).

Art Gallery of New South Wales

Alberto Pasini, (1826 - 1899)

Arab Caravan, c. before 1899

Oil on canvas

Alberto Pasini, 1826 - 1899
BY THE FOUNTAIN, CONSTANTINOPLE, c. 1882
Oil on canvas
46 by 38.5cm., 18 by 15¼in.

Delacroix Eugene

Arab Riders on Scouting Mission

Oil Painting on Canvas

36” inches wide by 18” inches high

Hermitage Museum

Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix (French: 6 April 1798 – 13 August 1863) was a French Romantic artist regarded from the outset of his career as the leader of the French Romantic school.

As a painter and muralist, Delacroix's use of expressive brushstrokes and his study of the optical effects of colour profoundly shaped the work of the Impressionists, while his passion for the exotic inspired the artists of the Symbolist movement. A fine lithographer, Delacroix illustrated various works of William Shakespeare, the Scottish writer Walter Scott and the German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

In contrast to the Neoclassical perfectionism of his chief rival Ingres, Delacroix took for his inspiration the art of Rubens and painters of the Venetian Renaissance, with an attendant emphasis on colour and movement rather than clarity of outline and carefully modelled form. Dramatic and romantic content characterized the central themes of his maturity, and led him not to the classical models of Greek and Roman art, but to travel in North Africa, in search of the exotic. Friend and spiritual heir to Théodore Géricault, Delacroix was also inspired by Lord Byron, with whom he shared a strong identification with the "forces of the sublime", of nature in often violent action.

However, Delacroix was given to neither sentimentality nor bombast, and his Romanticism was that of an individualist. In the words of Baudelaire, "Delacroix was passionately in love with passion, but coldly determined to express passion as clearly as possible. More

Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863)
Death of Sardanapalus, c. 1844
Oil on canvas
73.71 × 82.47 cm (29 × 32.5 in)
Philadelphia Museum of Art

The painting's most dominant feature is a large divan, with its golden elephants, on which a nude prostrates herself and beseeches the apathetic Sardanapalus for mercy. Sardanapalus had ordered his possessions destroyed and concubines murdered before immolating himself, once he learned that he was faced with military defeat.

The Death of Sardanapalus is based on the tale of Sardanapalus, the last king of Assyria, from the historical library of Diodorus Siculus, the ancient Greek historian, and is a work of the era of Romanticism. This painting uses rich, vivid and warm colours, and broad brushstrokes. It was inspired by Lord Byron's play Sardanapalus (1821). More

Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863)
The Lion Hunt, c. 1885
Oil on canvas

Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, Sweden


Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863)
The Combat of the Giaour and Hassan, c. 1826
Oil on canvas
58 × 71 cm (22.8 × 28 in)
Art Institute of Chicago

The Combat of the Giaour and Hassan, was inspired by a poem by Lord Byron, The Giaour. 

Byron wrote the poem during his Grand Tour during 1810 and 1811. While in Athens, he became aware of the Turkish custom of throwing a woman found guilty of adultery into the sea wrapped in a sack. "Giaour" (Turkish: Gâvur) is an offensive Turkish word for infidel or non-believer, and is similar to the Arabic word "kafir". 

The main story is of Leila, a member of her master Hassan's harem, who loves the giaour and is killed by being drowned in the sea by Hassan. In revenge, the giaour kills him and then enters a monastery due to his remorse. The design of the story allows for contrast between Christian and Muslim perceptions of love, sex, death and the afterlife. More

Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix (1798 - 1863)
The Bride of Abydos, c. 1843
28 x 36 cm (10,8 x 14,0 inches)
Oil on canvas

Paris, Musée du Louvre

The Bride of Abydos is from another poem by Lord Byron in 1813. One of his earlier works, it is considered to be one of his "Heroic Poems", along with The Giaour, Lara, The Siege of Corinth, The Corsair and Parisina. These poems contributed to his poetic fame at the time in England.

After an initial description of the Turkish setting, the story opens with the ruler Giaffir rebuking his supposed son, Selim. Selim professes his love for his half-sister, Zuleika, Giaffir's daughter. Angered, the Pasha refuses Selim a key to the royal harem and upbraids him with insults.

Zuleika herself appears, radiant in beauty, and soon she is forbidden to marry Selim; she tacitly complies. Later, she exclaims her love to Selim and mourns her fate that would be without him. He, in turn, decries Giaffir's judgment as well and vows vengeance. 

The second canto again opens with a chthonic description of the Turkish lands and the grotto where the two lovers meet. Cloak thrown aside, Selim is dressed as a dashing pirate and declares that Zuleika is not his sister. She is surprised and listens as Selim relates how Giaffir had killed Abdallah, Selim's father and Giaffir's brother. Selim's story continues as he tells her that he learned of his true identity from one of his father's loyal servants, Haroun, and that since Selim himself as raised by Giaffir, he was detested and maltreated.

He became a pirate so that he could gather a posse for revenge, and asserts his lust for Giaffir's blood; the silence at the end of Selim's tale is interrupted by the reports of weapons belonging to Giaffir's men. Selim, wishing to kiss his love one last time, tarries to leave the cave and soon falls, dying on beach, the fatal blow administered by Giaffir himself. The second canto thus ends with Zuleika dying in sorrow for Selim and Giaffir is forced to live out the rest of his life in solitude. More

Eugène Delacroix (French, 1798 - 1863)

Episode from "The Corsair" by Lord Byron, French, about 1831, 

Watercolor, brown ink, touches of gouache, over graphite underdrawing

24.3 x 19.2 cm (9 9/16 x 7 9/16 in.)

J. Paul Getty Museum

The Corsair was also inspired by another tale in verse by Lord Byron published in 1814, which was extremely popular and influential in its day, selling ten thousand copies on its first day of sale. The Corsair, published in 1814, tells the story of Conrad, a wild and ruthless Aegean pirate whose only virtue is the love he feels for the gentle Medora. There is nothing remarkable about his appearance, Byron tells us, but beneath the quiet exterior there is passion, pride and a defiant, calculated callousness, characteristics that set him apart from other men. Brutalised by childhood ill-treatment, detested and feared, Conrad is a lonely tragic hero who is destined never to enjoy peace or happiness. The Corsair was an immediate success, confirming Byron’s importance as the most popular and influential poet of his generation. More

 Images are copyright of their respective owners, assignees or others

13 Paintings, Orientalist Artists, 4

Ludwig Deutsch

MORNING PRAYERS

Dimensions:  25.59 X 20.28 in (65 X 51.5 cm)

Medium:  oil on panel

Creation Date:  1902

Signed

Ludwig Deutsch (Vienna, 1855 - Paris, 1935) was an Austrian painter who settled in Paris. He studied at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts 1872-1875, then, in 1878, moved to Paris where he became strongly associated with Orientalism. He was on good terms with another Austrian Orientalist in Paris, Rudolf Ernst. More

Ludwig Deutsch (1855–1935)

The Nubian Palace Guard

Oil on canvas

Ludwig Deutsch (1855-1935)

A Nubian Guard, c. 1895

Oil on panel

50.5 x 33 cm

(19.88" x 12.99")

Ludwig Deutsch (1855–1935)

The Sahleb Vendor, Cairo, c. 1886

Oil on canvas

Ludwig Deutsch (1855–1935)

The Smoker, Cairo, c. 1903

Oil on canvas

Ludwig Deutsch, (1855 - 1935)

At Prayer

Oil on Panel, Signed and dated 1923

Image size: 22 x 17 1/2 inches (56 x 44.5cm)

Ludwig Deutsch, (1855 - 1935)

El Azhar Arab University of Cairo, c. 1890 

Oil on canvas 

73.5x99.5cm

Eduard Charlemont, Austrian, 1848 - 1906

The Moorish Chief, c. 1878

Oil on panel

59 1/8 x 38 1/2 inches (150.2 x 97.8 cm)

Philadelphia Museum of Art

Standing in front of an arch that closely resembles the architecture of the Alhambra in Spain, the Moorish chief exudes power and mystery. This painting was probably shown at the Paris Salon exhibition of 1878 with the title Le Gardien du serail (The Harem Guard). More

Eduard Charlemont (1848–1906) was an Austrian painter, born in Vienna, capital of the Austrian Empire in 1848. His father, Matthias Adolf Charlemont, was also a painter, specializing in painting miniature portraits. His younger brother Hugo Charlemont (1850–1939) was an equally famous impressionist painter. At the age of fifteen Charlemont exhibited his works for the first time at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, where he studied fine arts. At the same age Eduard Charlemont was also hired by a girls' school to teach drawing.

After graduating from the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, Charlemont traveled to many countries in central Europe and finally settled in Paris, where he lived for the next thirty years. In Paris, several times he won the first prize of the Paris Salon, an annual exhibition held by the French Academy of Fine Arts (French: Académie des Beaux-Arts).[1] The most famous work of Charlemont is The Guardian of the Seraglio, widely known as The Moorish Chief, depicting a Moorish swordsman guarding a seraglio (part of a typical wealthy Arabic villa, where women stayed when strangers entered the house). In 1899 he won the gold medal at the Exposition Universelle, a World's Fair held in Paris. Charlemont was also known for his murals. He painted three of the murals of the Burgtheater (the Austrian National Theatre in Vienna and one of the most important German language theatres in the world) totaling a length of about 55 meters. He died in Vienna in 1906.


Today, reproductions of his painting The Moorish Chief are the best-selling items in the museum store of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. More

Rudolf Ernst (Austrian, 1854–1932)

The captured lion

Oil on Panel

71.1 x 90.2 cm. (28 x 35.5 in.)

Rudolf Ernst (Austrian, 1854–1932)

The captured lion, Detail

Oil on Panel

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 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

VERNET Emile Jean Horace, 1789-1863 (France)

La chasse au lion dans le désert. c. 1836

Engraving

VERNET Emile Jean Horace, 1789-1863 (France)

La chasse aux sangliers dans la plaine de Sahara, 1835

Engraving

Émile Jean-Horace Vernet (30 June 1789 – 17 January 1863) was a French painter of battles, portraits, and Orientalist Arab subjects.

Vernet was born to Carle Vernet, another famous painter, who was himself a son of Claude Joseph Vernet. He was born in the Paris Louvre, while his parents were staying there during the French Revolution. Vernet quickly developed a disdain for the high-minded seriousness of academic French art influenced by Classicism, and decided to paint subjects taken mostly from contemporary culture. Therefore, he began depicting the French soldier in a more familiar, vernacular manner rather than in an idealized, Davidian fashion. Some of his paintings that represent French soldiers in a more direct, less idealizing style, include Dog of the Regiment, Trumpeter's Horse, and Death of Poniatowski.

He gained recognition during the Bourbon Restoration for a series of battle paintings commissioned by the duc d'Orleans, the future King Louis-Philippe. Critics marvelled at the incredible speed with which he painted.[2] Many of his paintings made during this early phase of his career were "noted for their historical accuracy as well as their charged landscapes."[3] Examples of paintings in this style include the Battle of Valmy, the Battle of Jemappes, and the Battle of Montmirail.

Over the course of his long career, Horace Vernet was honoured with dozens of important commissions. King Louis-Philippe was one of his most prolific patrons.[2] His depictions of Algerian battles, such as the Capture of the Smahla and the Capture of Constantine, were well-received, as they were vivid depictions of the French army in the heat of battle. After the fall of the July Monarchy during the Revolution of 1848, Vernet discovered a new patron in Napoléon III of France. He continued to paint representations of the heroic French army during the Second Empire and maintained his commitment to representing war in an accessible and realistic way. He accompanied the French Army during the Crimean War, producing several paintings, including one of the Battle of the Alma, which was not as well received as his earlier paintings. One well known and possibly apocryphal anecdote maintains that when Vernet was asked to remove a certain obnoxious general from one of his paintings, he replied, "I am a painter of history, sire, and I will not violate the truth," hence demonstrating his fidelity to representing war truthfully.


Vernet died in his hometown of Paris in 1863. More

Images are copyright of their respective owners, assignees or others.

12 Paintings, Orientalist Art 3

Léon François Comerre (French 1850-1916)

An oriental beauty holding a pink fan 

signed 'Léon Comerre' (upper left)

oil on canvas

46 3/4 x 30 1/2in (119 x 77.5cm)

Léon François Comerre. Born on October 10, 1850, Comerre grew up in the city of Lille, where he began his formal art training at an early age. In 1868 he moved to Paris and enrolled in the studio of Alexandre Cabanel, who introduced him to exotic orientalist subjects and voluptuous nudes. He quickly distinguished himself as a talented painter and was recognized as a most promising student, thus gaining access to the prestigious Ecole des Beaux-Arts.

Comerre started exhibiting at the Paris Salon in 1871 and won the coveted Prix-de-Rome in 1875. That year marked a turning point in his career, with another gold medal awarded to him by the city of Lille and an additional medal from the Salon for a second painting. The official recognition brought financial rewards for the young painter, and his skills as society portraitist were in high demand.

By the end of 1875, Comerre embarked on a tour of the Lowlands and a four year sojourn in Rome. Upon his return from Rome, Comerre continued to have a successful career, with mural commissions from the city of Paris and Lyon, and an expansion of his client base into the United States. He also exhibited at the Royal Academy, the Royal Society of Portrait Painters, and the Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts. He became a Knight of the Legion of Honour in 1903. 

Like many of his fellow painters, Comerre catered to the Orientalist taste of his contemporaries that was fueled by an all-encompassing European infatuation with the Near East. Although he never traveled beyond Europe, Comerre made use of the most common attributes of Orientalist paintings, such as intricate tile motifs and ornate silver jewelry, which he successfully incorporated into his portrait commissions.

While the sitter of the present painting is unknown, unlike Commere's commissioned portrait paintings, the model, her dress and the tiled wall are motifs employed in a few other of the artist's orientalist-themed paintings. His mastery of the craft is clearly apparent in the delicate treatment of the fan and the intricate wall carvings, as well as the subtle, varied hues of pink that dominate the composition.

Stanislaus von Chlebowski (Polish, 1835-1884)

The prayer 

signed and dated 'A. Chlebowski 1879' (lower right)

oil on panel

17 3/4 x 11 1/2in (45 x 29.5cm)

Stanisław Chlebowski (1835–1884) was a Polish painter with Russian and Turkish connections. He was a renowned specialist in Oriental themes. He was born in Podole, and learned drawing in Grekov Odessa Art school. Between 1853-1859, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, and then on a scholarship for six years in Paris as the pupil of the French Orientalist painter Jean-Léon Gérôme. Chlebowski traveled to Spain, Italy, Germany, and Belgium. His first success was selling his painting Joanne d’Arc in Amiens Prison to Napoleon III of France.

In the years 1864-1876 Chlebowski was master painter for Sultan Abdülaziz and took up residence in Constantinople. During his services, he had obtained permission to bring with him a large icon of Mother of God Leading Our Way having been rescued from the Hodegon Monastery in 1453. He had come across it in one of the magasins with old relics, unheeded by the Ottoman keeper. This account is certified in a letter by the Comité National Polonais à Constantinople, dated June 27, 1938.

In 1876 he moved to Paris. In 1881 he returned permanently to Krakow. The subject matter of his watercolors and oil paintings is diverse. He painted images of historical battles related to the history of Turkey, oriental genre scenes, landscapes, and portraits of sultans. He died near Poznań, in Kowanówko at age 49.

Chlebowski lived abroad for a long time and as a result his paintings were very rare in Poland. The National Museum in Krakow houses some of his other important Orientalist works such as Entrée de Mahomet II à Stamboul. More

Jean-Léon Gérôme

1824 - 1904

FRENCH

PRIÈRE DANS LA MOSQUÉE

signed J. L. GEROME (lower right)

oil on canvas

16 by 13 in.

40.6 by 33 cm

Jean-Léon Gérôme (11 May 1824 – 10 January 1904) was a French painter and sculptor in the style now known as Academicism. The range of his oeuvre included historical painting, Greek mythology, Orientalism, portraits and other subjects, bringing the Academic painting tradition to an artistic climax. He is considered one of the most important painters from this academic period, and in addition to being a painter, he was also a teacher with a long list of students. More

Henri Emilien Rousseau (French, 1875-1933)

A caravan at rest 

signed 'Henri Rousseau' and illegibly dated (lower right)

oil on panel

18 1/8 x 21 5/8in (46 x 55cm)

Henri Rousseau Henry said Emilien Rousseau (Cairo 1875 - Aix-en-Provence in 1933) was an orientalist painter. A student of Jean-Léon Gérôme at the Beaux-Arts in Paris, he won the second Grand Prix de Rome in 1900 and a travel grant at the Salon of French Artists. He travels the Belgium , the Netherlands , the North Africa , then to Spain and Italy where he admired the great masters ( Rubens , Rembrandt , Velasquez , Murillo , the Titian , Raphael etc ...)

After this initiatory journey, he settled in Versailles and set up his studio at the Villa des Arts in Paris. In 1919 he moved to Aix en Provence with his large family (seven children). For a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour on the arts, it was a notable of the area. He mainly travelled to Tunisia , the Algeria and especially Morocco. Provence and the Camargue remained his anchors. His success with the middle-class and wealthy clientele is punctuated with numerous exhibitions in Paris, Brussels , Stockholm , Marseille . More

Fabio Fabbi (Italian, 1861-1946)

The new slave girl 

signed 'F. Fabbi' (lower left)

oil on canvas

38 3/4 x 29in (98.5 x 73.5cm)

Fabio Fabbi was born in Bologna, Italy in 1861. As a young man, he enrolled at the Accademia Di Belle Arti in Florence and studied sculpture and painting in the 1880s, winning prizes in both categories. After his studies, he travelled to Paris, Munich, and finally Egypt. Upon his return to Italy, he dedicated himself solely to painting and was honoured with the distinction of professorship at the Accademia.

Fabbi painted prolifically images of odalisques and bazaars which were well-received by the public. His images were commercial for his day, and thus he succeeded in painting more works than many of his contemporaries in Italy. From 1884 onward, Fabbi regularly participated in exhibitions in Turin, Milan and Florence, gaining popularity and laud mostly because his works were colourful and amusing. Although the subject matter was not novel to his audience at this point in time, his impressionist technique and the movement of his figures were quite appealing, as in the present lot. More

Fabio Fabbi (Italian, 1861-1946)
Dancers in the harem 
signed 'F. Fabbi' (lower left)
oil on canvas
90 x 140cm (35 7/16 x 55 1/8in)

Dancers in the Harem, a work most likely inspired by a visit to Cairo, shows the Fabbi's versatility and skill. The backdrop of the room, the carpets and windows are clearly painted with clean lines, articulated and realistic. The dancers, however, are painted with visible brushstrokes, giving the impression that they are moving and dancing to the music. Fabbi's unique ability to mix the two techniques makes the work both interesting and believable. 

The present scene depicts one of Fabbi's favourite themes: Raks Baladi, the popular folk dance of Egypt which is believed to have mothered all Oriental dance. During his trip to Egypt in 1886, Fabbi would have witnessed the skilful women performing Raks Baladi as it was enjoyed at festivals, in the home, and in the living quarters for casual entertainment. The depiction of the dancers is true to what Fabbi would have seen in Cairo. The women don long, simple robes indigenous to Egypt with some ornamentation around the bust and scarves accentuating the hips. This costume differed greatly from region to region in the Middle East, verifying Fabbi's interaction with the Egyptians. 

Fabbio Fabbi (1861-1946)
Slave Auction
Oil On Canvas
40.6 x 70.5 cm, (15.98" x 27.76")

Adolf Schreyer, 1828-1899

GERMAN

THE ADVANCE

signed AD Schreyer

oil on canvas

41 1/2 by 68 in.

105.4 by 173 cm

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. His painting of a Charge of Artillery of Imperial Guard was formerly at the Luxembourg Museum. The Metropolitan Museum, New York owns three of Schreyer's oriental paintings: Abandoned, Arabs on the March and Arabs making a detour; and many of his best pictures are in the Rockefeller family, Vanderbilt family, John Jacob Astor, William Backhouse Astor, Sr., August Belmont, and William Walters collections. At the Kunsthalle in Hamburg is his Wallachian Transport Train, and at the Staedel Institute, Frankfort, are two of his Wallachian scenes. More

Edwin Lord Weeks, 1849 - 1903

AMERICAN

FIGURES IN AN INTERIOR WITH GARDEN OF PALMS BEYOND

signed E.L. Weeks (lower right)

oil on canvas

32 by 39 1/2 in.

81.3 by 100.3 cm

After years of travel through Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and India, the American artist Edwin Lord Weeks remained captivated by the sights he encountered abroad and towards the end of his career he began an ambitious series of paintings based on A Thousand and One Nights. From this series, he exhibited Man Waking from Sleep in 1898 and L’histoire de Noureddin et la belle Persane a year later at the Paris Salon of 1899. A series of four paintings of The Porter of Baghdad were sold in the artist’s estate sale of 1905 (one of which was shown at the Paris Salon of 1901). Given the scale and subject, the present painting is almost certainly one from this series, although, like lot xx, it has remained undocumented until now.

In Figures in an Interior with Garden of Palms Beyond, Weeks presents an interesting combination of imagery. Weeks documented his travels through sketches, paintings and photographs, which provided source material for the present scene. Additionally, architectural elements reminiscent of Weeks’ Indian paintings of the 1880s and 1890s now reappear as the background and decorative elements. 

Two figures sit in a sheltered, sun-dappled courtyard overlooking a lush forest of swaying palms, Weeks is careful to render the architecture of the scene, complete with its delicately carved stone latticework, as well as the costumes of the two figures. The lounging girl is swathed in elaborately embroidered sheer red silks, reminiscent of the Nautch dancing girls which Weeks had painted in India  More

Edwin Lord Weeks

The Doctor's Visit (from A Thousand and One Night series) (1903) 

Edwin Lord Weeks exhibited Man Waking from Sleep in 1898, at the Paris Exposition of that year, and L'histoire de Noureddin et la belle Persane, a year later at the Paris Salon of 1899. A series of four paintings of The Porter of Bagdad were sold in the artist's estate sale of 1905; Number 3 of that series was shown at the Paris Salon of 1901. The present painting, The Doctor's Visit, bears a label in Weeks' own hand, sending it to the Universal Exposition in St. Louis in 1904. Weeks, like most artists, sent only recent paintings to major exhibitions, thus enabling us to date The Doctor's Visit to circa 1903, the year of his untimely death.

The Doctor's Visit achieved the highest price among the "1001 Nights" paintings at the artist's estate sale of 1905. Curiously, The Doctor's Visit exploits an interesting combination of imagery, visually rooted in India and Persia to recount a story rooted in Arabic literature. In this work, Weeks has extracted architectural elements from his Indian paintings of the 1880s and 1890s and recombined them into a fantasy of form and pattern as a setting for the Doctor to visit his patient lying upon a marble plinth in the shadow of early morning sunshine. The setting overlooks the azure Lake of Udaipur, India; in the distance are the semi-arid purple hills surrounding the Lake and Palace of Udaipur. Weeks has fashioned an imagined portion of this famed island palace as the open-air lounging spot of bright white marble for his Princess, who lies upon the cushions for her back and the stone for her outstretched legs.

She rests, seductively, in airy white silk halter and gown, accented in gold, falling around her thighs and lower legs to form a mound of ripples in front of her. Her gold tiara and multi-stranded necklace frame her youthful face with wide, dark eyes, slight smile and long, raven hair: her features all tell of Persian ancestry, as do those of the Doctor. Yet the Doctor's costume of embroidered peach-colored silk, tight about the torso and flaring wide–almost to the floor–is purely Indian in style. The gorgeous shimmer of the material has a coarse, dark seam starting at the waist and ending just above the curious upturned toe of his shoes. In its backlit beauty, this fabulously-rendered robe appears royal in nature. The entire costume, from head to foot, begins a dialogue with the form and pattern of the slim, marble column to the left. Weeks has used both elements, figure and column lit in sunshine, to frame the space occupied by the lounging princess. The narrative of The Doctor's Visit is contained within these two beautifully-designed elements by this extremely skillful painter at the end of his career. More

Edwin Lord Weeks

Moorish Girl Lying On A Couch, Rabat, Morocco

Oil on Board

Material: board

48.2 x 72.4 cm

Private Collection

Edwin Lord Weeks (American, 1849–1903)
Nautch girl resting , ca. 1895–1900
Oil on canvas
91.4 x 154 cm. (36 x 60.6 in.)

In North India, Nautch is one of several styles of popular dance, performed by girls known as Nautch girls. 

Acknowledgement: Bonhams, Sothebys,