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Lot Essay
In response to Pasini's fascination with the Arab culture, he took numerous trips to the Far East. His first excursion in 1855 sent him through Egypt, Saudia Arabia, Yemen, the Persian Gulf and Teheran where he finally settled for over a year. Like his contemporary Gerome, Pasini was one of the most popular Orientalist painters in France, and he was represented by the Parisian dealer Adolph Goupil who sold many of his paintings to his American clientele.
Pasini's paintings incorporate a great sensitivity to color and the treatment of light. Lynn Thornton comments on Pasini's work, "Like Fromentin, with whom he was often compared, Pasini was struck by the delicacy of the light in the East. His treatment of the play between shadow and the sun and his almost photographic representation of architecture and figures are a world apart from the imaginary exoticism of earlier Orientalist paintings" (L. Thornton, The Orientalist Painters, Paris, 1983, p. 124).
Pasini's paintings incorporate a great sensitivity to color and the treatment of light. Lynn Thornton comments on Pasini's work, "Like Fromentin, with whom he was often compared, Pasini was struck by the delicacy of the light in the East. His treatment of the play between shadow and the sun and his almost photographic representation of architecture and figures are a world apart from the imaginary exoticism of earlier Orientalist paintings" (L. Thornton, The Orientalist Painters, Paris, 1983, p. 124).
