Fine and Applied Arts | Encountering the East | Painting: Scenes of everyday life

Painters were taken in by the rich colours, of the people at the markets, the fabrics of house interiors, and the bright light of the Arab and Ottoman world.

Orientalism became a survey of the ethnography, topography and history of the Arab and Ottoman world including Spain. In the cities, artists traced the idiosyncrasies of the architecture, the markets, street life, as well as the trades and professions of city dwellers. These paintings brought to the European people different images of life. In addition, these artists were responsible for some of the stereotypes that still persist in the West, in particular, the link between Orientalism and exoticism, the role of men, and the social status of women. European artists sought to develop imagery that would capture what they believed to be characteristic of the cities and the people of the regions they visited. The desired effect is that of “transporting” the viewer into another culture. This exhibition has some very good examples of this type of subject matter and shows how, for artists, these sources of inspiration extended from the Balkans to North Africa and Arabia.

Working NumberNameHolding MuseumDateMaterialsCurator Justification
RS 010Milos Obrenovic, prince of SerbiaThe National Museum1824Oil on canvasThis portrait of Miloš Obrenović Prince of Serbia (1815–39; 1858–60) shows the extension and importance of Ottoman art. Serbia, under the rule of Obrenović was part of the Ottoman Empire, but became an autonomous duchy within the empire. The prince is shown dressed in “Oriental” costume and wears a typical headdress – a turban.

SP 038Asia. AthalideNational Museum of Romanticismc. 1830Paper; ink; lithographyArab and Ottoman attire is an important Orientalist motif that reappears often within this exhibition. The European Orientalist painters understood the value of clothing in the Arab and Ottoman world and this is reflected in their paintings.

Working NumberNameHolding MuseumDateMaterialsCurator Justification
TR2 035Portrait of a lady of the court playing the tambourinePera Museum1870–1875Oil on canvasAn important Orientalist motif that reappears often in this exhibition is Arab and Ottoman attire. This painting is by Pierre Désiré Guillemet, who worked for the Ottoman Sultan ‘Abd al-‘Aziz. With the help of the sultan, Guillemet established the first private academy of art in Istanbul where he and his wife taught Western-style drawing and painting.
FR 067Arabs listening to a story in their campNational Library of France 1835Jean-Horace Vermet was King Louis-Philippe’s and Napoleon III’s official painter. He was in charge of depicting the Conquest of Algeria by the French Army in 1830. His drawings provided an idyllic image of Algeria. This painting, published as an engraving in journals, was widely known.

UK 009Study of an ArabThe British Museum1840’sThis sketch was made by John Frederick Lewis, possibly during the period he spent in Cairo from 1841 to 1850. The time he spent in Egypt and Spain greatly inspired his work.

UA 065Portrait of David Roberts, Esq., R. A.Sharjah Art Museum / Sharjah Museums Department1844LithographDavid Roberts was a Scottish painter known particularly for a prolific series of detailed lithographic prints of Egypt and the Near East, which he produced during the 1840s from sketches he had made during extensive tours of the region (1838–9). These, and his large oil paintings of similar subjects, made him a prominent and highly influential Orientalist painter.

TR2 063A landscape of Bazaar from IstanbulMimar Sinan Fine Arts University, Painting and Sculpture Museum1853Watercolour on paperThe Maltese (British) painter Amadeo Preziosi settled in Istanbul where, like many of his contemporaries, he had been lured by its alleged exoticism. Usually Preziosi painted scenes from daily life; shops amidst streets, coffeehouses, bathhouses, peddlers selling in the streets, a woman collecting water from a fountain. He also painted figures from different ethnic groups in which he tried to reflect the cultural diversity of Istanbul.

SP 015Moors of TetouanLázaro Galdiano Museumc. 1860Oil on canvasThis work was made around 1863 when the artist travelled from Spain to Morocco with the artist Mariano Fortuny. The reason for the journey was to paint the characters and “picturesque” garments, as a way of showing the way of life of the people from Morocco.

GR 005A Greek MountaineerBenaki Museum1861Gouache on paperIn the 19th century, Greece, the Balkans and Spain were considered part of the Eastern realms. The Balkans and Greece, which then were then part of the Ottoman Empire, in this century fought to be independent from it. During the Ottoman occupation Greek peasants often retreated to impregnable mountain regions, where they engaged in resistance against the Ottoman Turks. These mountaineers were romanticised by both artists and poets.

SP 051Interior of a HaremNational Museum of Romanticismc. 1863Oil on canvasThis work was made in around 1863 when the artist Francisco Lameyer Berenguer travelled to Morocco with the artist Mariano Fortuny. Within Orientalism, depictions of harems and markets are considered genre painting.

SP 016Moorish ParadeLázaro Galdiano Museumc. 1870Oil on canvasEuropean artist-travellers sought to develop imagery that would capture what they believed to be characteristic not only of cities and landscapes but also the people of the regions they visited. The complex crowd scenes were meant to be read primarily as faithful figurative representations on a panoramic scale.

Working NumberNameHolding MuseumDateMaterialsCurator Justification
IT2 009Arabian FantasyNational Gallery of Modern Art (GNAM)1911Oil on canvasStefano Ussi was part of an Italian diplomatic delegation to Morocco in 1875. Here he painted an Arabian fantasy that documents the “Lab-el-baroud” (Game of Gunpowder), played in the dust, in honour of the Italian delegation. The episode has been masterfully described by the writer Edmondo de Amicis.
UA 068Turkish ladies buying jewellerySharjah Art Museum / Sharjah Museums Department1873WatercolourThe Maltese (British) artist Amadeo Preziosi settled in Istanbul as a diplomatic translator and artist, specialising in touristic scenes, vistas and portraits. In 1844, Robert Curzon, a British diplomat, commissioned from him an album on the Costumes of Constantinople. In the 1850s and 1860s Le Mercier in Paris published Preziosi’s most popular works as chromolithographs.

SP 014A Muslim man prayingLázaro Galdiano Museum1851–1875Paper, ink; drawingThe artist Mariano Fortuny travelled to Morocco to paint the Spanish-Morocco War, a trip funded by the local government of Barcelona. Taken by the light and the people of Morocco, Fortuny began a series of painted sketches that were to inspire him over many years. In addition, he became a collector of Islamic artefacts. Fortuny, one of Spain’s most notable artists, was influenced, like many other artists, by his Orientalist experience.

IT2 008The Prayer in the DesertNational Gallery of Modern Art (GNAM)1876Oil on canvasStefano Ussi lived between Florence and Rome. On the occasion of the opening of the Suez Canal the artist went to Egypt, where he realised the first version of The Prayer in the Desert, which was exhibited at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence. From then on, Ussi painted both history and Orientalist subjects.

IT2 011The Celebration of the Prophet Muhammad in TangierNational Gallery of Modern Art (GNAM)1879Oil on canvasThe Italian painter Stefano Ussi was part of a delegation sent by the Italian Embassy to Morocco in 1875. He was joined by the writer Edmondo de Amicis and the painter Cesare Biseo. During this trip, Ussi realised many sketches that later inspired his paintings.

IT2 019The Temptations of Saint AntonyNational Gallery of Modern Art (GNAM)1878Oil on canvasThis painting by Domenico Morelli was displayed at the Universal Exposition in Paris of 1878. One of the artist’s more complex works, it was inspired by Gaustave Flaubert’s poem “La Tentation de Saint Antoine”, depicting in the male figure’s attire an Arab influence.

AT 013Street Scene in CairoVienna Museumc. 1880Leopold Alphons Mielich studied in Paris, London and Munich. In 1887, he spent a few years in London and the Middle East. Especially well known are his numerous paintings of Cairo and its surroundings.

AT 014Armed Guard of a HouseVienna Museumc. 1890The Austrian painter Eduard Charlemont lived in Paris for most of his career, but travelled to Italy and North Africa where he took inspiration for many of his paintings following the Orientalist movement. Well known as a painter of portraits and historic genre scenes, the characteristics of these are still seen in this Orientalist scene.

SP 030Moor with orangesSorolla Museum1885–1886Oil on canvasThis painting by the Spanish artist Joaquín Sorolla was made in Italy (where he lived on a scholarship) at the end of 1885 or the beginning of 1886, a long time before he travelled to Morocco in 1919. This is a typical example of an Orientalist painting made for sale to a fashionable market.

UA 070Marketplace, MoroccoSharjah Art Museum / Sharjah Museums Department1888Oil on canvasEisenhut was one of the most important Orientalist painters of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Although he travelled to Central Asia and North Africa, the “Orient” became his main source of inspiration. He was inspired by the people and daily life, as this view of a caravan attests. The people of the desert, the Berbers and Bedouins, were important subjects in Orientalist painting.

Working NumberNameHolding MuseumDateMaterialsCurator Justification
UA 011Bedouin of the HouranSharjah Art Museum / Sharjah Museums AuthorityPublished 1881–1884Wood engravingThis print, which shows a Bedouin of the Hawran riding his camel, is an example of the European interest in people from the deserts of the Arab and Ottoman world.
PT 021OdalisqueVista Alegre MuseumAfter 1869Paper; sepia watercolourAt the same time as Orientalism became popular so too did Japonisme, a movement inspired by all things Japanese. This drawing, depicting an odalisque, is influenced by both movements. Many Orientalist engravings were later used in other media, such as in porcelain. In this case, the odalisque can also be found on a vase painted by Victor Rousseau, in 1837, from the Portuguese Vista Alegre factory.

DZ 115AlgeriansMusée National des Beaux-Arts1884Oil on canvas The well-known Impressionist painter Auguste Renoir travelled to Algeria in 1881. While there, he made several drawings and painted studies among which are many studies of the Algerian people, especially women wearing traditional attire, in this case the haïk. Algeria was a one of the most popular destinations for French artists.

Working NumberNameHolding MuseumDateMaterialsCurator Justification
DZ 132The LookoutsMusée National des Beaux-ArtsLate 19th – early 20th centuries Oil on canvas Algeria was an important inspiration for French artists. Beginning with Eugène Delacroix through to Auguste Renoir, along with many others, the Algerian landscape and people were depicted many times. In these works an evolution of painting styles can be seen, from “academicism” to the Impressionist movement.
DZ 118The interior of Mustapha Pacha's palaceMusée National des Beaux-ArtsLate 19th century Oil on canvas Views of domestic interiors and scenes from daily life were a popular genre in Orientalist painting from early on. In this painting, the artist depicts the Palace of Mustafa Pasha – one of the Regency of Algiers’ most famous beys (governors) during the Ottoman period – in the Kasbah of Algiers.