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Lot Essay
As early as 1849, Eugne Fromentin dreamed of travelling to Egypt. In 1869, in celebration of the official inauguration of the Suez Canal, Fromentin finally received his invitation to Egypt from the Vice-Roi himself and sailed for Africa in the company of the writer Thophile Gaultier and the artists Berchre, Grme and Charles de Tournemine.
Shortly after his arrival, Fromentin visited the Pyramids of Ghisa and Sakkara before travelling on to Upper Egypt. He would visit them again on his return, before continuing on to Suez for the opening of the canal. He travelled through the Valley of the Califes followed by the Valley of the Mamelouks, stunned by their amazing silence in contrast to the noisy streets of Cairo.
The following year, at the end of June 1870, Fromentin travelled to Venice, a trip cut short by the start of the Franco-Prussian war. Overwhelmed by the war and the events of the Paris Commune that followed, Fromentin plunged himself into his work, investing several paintings with the enthusiasm he had guarded from his trip to Egypt. Les Tombeaux des Califes au Caire is a key work in the later part of the artist's oeuvre. It is a painting that bears witness to the 'modern' way in which Fromentin was constructing his painting as well as depicting the Orient in a new way.
The composition for the present painting is based on a drawing made from a photograph of the 'tombeaux mamlouk' taken by the artist himself. The same drawing was used as a study for the painting now in the Muse des Beaux Arts in Alger (see J. Thompson and B. Wright, La Vie et l'oeuvre d'Eugne Fromentin, 1987, pp. 258-9). Given the extensive nature of the sights visited in Egypt and fearful of not being able to remember every detail and beauty of the landscape, Fromentin brought back several photographs from his travels. These snapshots were a point of departure for the artist who never hesitated to modify their reality to create his own.
"[Les photographies] ne vous donneront qu'une bien imparfaite ide de la beaut des choses; vous n'y verrez ni l'incomparable qualit de la lumire, ni les distances (toutes amoindries), ni la couleur, moins varie qu'au Sahara, mais particulire et peut-tre encore plus dlicate".
The changes from photograph to painting were characteristic of an artist who found photography an impoverished and overly realistic medium. As opposed to the painting in the Alger Museum, the present picture diminishes the importance of the architecture; the emphasis is placed on the vast and imposing sky. Without shadow or contrasting colours, Fromentin renders the blinding light, the overwhelming heat and the movement of the sky. The massive round forms of the mosques in the distance are minimalised to underscore the delicate profiles of the minarets that balance the composition and the overall horizontal nature of the painting. This new orientation in Fromentin's work is comparable to the same modification between his photos of the Nile and the Pyramids and the definitive interpretation of them in his painting (op.cit, p. 262).
Les Tombeaux des Califes aux Caire is surely one of Fromentin's last masterpieces, characterised as it is by its originality. The painting not only evokes the Egyptian harmony and calm that so impressed Fromentin, but it perfectly depicts an impression of silence, stillness and contemplation. In moving away from a purely topographical document, Fromentin is reaching for a more poetic story.
We are grateful to Barbara Wright for her assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.
Shortly after his arrival, Fromentin visited the Pyramids of Ghisa and Sakkara before travelling on to Upper Egypt. He would visit them again on his return, before continuing on to Suez for the opening of the canal. He travelled through the Valley of the Califes followed by the Valley of the Mamelouks, stunned by their amazing silence in contrast to the noisy streets of Cairo.
The following year, at the end of June 1870, Fromentin travelled to Venice, a trip cut short by the start of the Franco-Prussian war. Overwhelmed by the war and the events of the Paris Commune that followed, Fromentin plunged himself into his work, investing several paintings with the enthusiasm he had guarded from his trip to Egypt. Les Tombeaux des Califes au Caire is a key work in the later part of the artist's oeuvre. It is a painting that bears witness to the 'modern' way in which Fromentin was constructing his painting as well as depicting the Orient in a new way.
The composition for the present painting is based on a drawing made from a photograph of the 'tombeaux mamlouk' taken by the artist himself. The same drawing was used as a study for the painting now in the Muse des Beaux Arts in Alger (see J. Thompson and B. Wright, La Vie et l'oeuvre d'Eugne Fromentin, 1987, pp. 258-9). Given the extensive nature of the sights visited in Egypt and fearful of not being able to remember every detail and beauty of the landscape, Fromentin brought back several photographs from his travels. These snapshots were a point of departure for the artist who never hesitated to modify their reality to create his own.
"[Les photographies] ne vous donneront qu'une bien imparfaite ide de la beaut des choses; vous n'y verrez ni l'incomparable qualit de la lumire, ni les distances (toutes amoindries), ni la couleur, moins varie qu'au Sahara, mais particulire et peut-tre encore plus dlicate".
The changes from photograph to painting were characteristic of an artist who found photography an impoverished and overly realistic medium. As opposed to the painting in the Alger Museum, the present picture diminishes the importance of the architecture; the emphasis is placed on the vast and imposing sky. Without shadow or contrasting colours, Fromentin renders the blinding light, the overwhelming heat and the movement of the sky. The massive round forms of the mosques in the distance are minimalised to underscore the delicate profiles of the minarets that balance the composition and the overall horizontal nature of the painting. This new orientation in Fromentin's work is comparable to the same modification between his photos of the Nile and the Pyramids and the definitive interpretation of them in his painting (op.cit, p. 262).
Les Tombeaux des Califes aux Caire is surely one of Fromentin's last masterpieces, characterised as it is by its originality. The painting not only evokes the Egyptian harmony and calm that so impressed Fromentin, but it perfectly depicts an impression of silence, stillness and contemplation. In moving away from a purely topographical document, Fromentin is reaching for a more poetic story.
We are grateful to Barbara Wright for her assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.