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Lot Essay
Adolf Schreyer painted oriental scenes in a spirit much influenced by the French Orientalist painters of the period. He was especially inspired by the leading Romantic colourist of the time, Eugène Delacroix and the French painter and writer Eugène Fromentin (see lot 16). Like Fromentin, Schreyer was devoted primarily to representing Arab horsemen, which as can be seen in the present painting, he depicted with a grandeur which evoked a noble way of life fast disappearing.
Ecouraged by the trips made to Algeria by Delacroix and Fromentin, amongst others, Schreyer embarked in 1856 or 1859 to Syria and Egypt and was in Algiers by 1861, where contact with the Bedouins provided inspiration for Schreyer's Orientalist work. Returning to Paris in 1862, Schreyer exhibited his work at the Paris Salon where he was appreciated by Gautier and where Paul Manz commenting on Schreyer's work at the Salon of 1865 commented: 'Here we have a painter from Frankfurt who has been naturalised' referring to Schreyer's depiction of the Arab as an unspoiled child of nature. Schreyer became a member of the academies in Amsterdam and Rotterdam and many of his works are now in American and German museums.
Ecouraged by the trips made to Algeria by Delacroix and Fromentin, amongst others, Schreyer embarked in 1856 or 1859 to Syria and Egypt and was in Algiers by 1861, where contact with the Bedouins provided inspiration for Schreyer's Orientalist work. Returning to Paris in 1862, Schreyer exhibited his work at the Paris Salon where he was appreciated by Gautier and where Paul Manz commenting on Schreyer's work at the Salon of 1865 commented: 'Here we have a painter from Frankfurt who has been naturalised' referring to Schreyer's depiction of the Arab as an unspoiled child of nature. Schreyer became a member of the academies in Amsterdam and Rotterdam and many of his works are now in American and German museums.