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Lot Essay
Nouzhatoul-âouadat is a study for the painting of the same title currently hanging in the Royal Academy, London. Its title is the French spelling of the Arabic translated as 'The Delight of the Home'. This half-length portrait of an Eastern young woman was Long's diploma piece and was considered by critics to be far superior to his other Academy pieces; 'A much better picture is Nouzhatoul-âouadat, which Mr. Long has wisely preferred to The New Fugue for his diploma work. The imaginative and technical motives are devoid of fibre and purpose, but the handling of this painting and the choice of its colours show considerable good fortune and exterity' (quoted in: The Athenaeum, 27 May 1882, p. 673).
Long started his career as a portrait painter in Bath. In 1887 he visited Spain for the first time and after two further visits he started to exhibit Spanish genre subjects. In 1874, having visited Egypt and Syria, he began to paint religious subjects, chiefly large works illustrating passages from the Bible. The Babylonian marriage market (1875) was incredibly popular and in 1882 estblished a record for the highest price paid for a painting by a living artist.
The direct predecessor of Victorian classicists, chief among whom were Alma-Tadema, Leighton and Poynter, Long was finally elected to the R.A. in 1881. In the late 1880s, the London dealers Thomas Agnew & Sons commissioned a series of paintings illustrating figures of national beauty, which were a great success and in turn enabled Long to commission Richard Norman Shaw R.A. to design two houses for him in Hampstead.
Long started his career as a portrait painter in Bath. In 1887 he visited Spain for the first time and after two further visits he started to exhibit Spanish genre subjects. In 1874, having visited Egypt and Syria, he began to paint religious subjects, chiefly large works illustrating passages from the Bible. The Babylonian marriage market (1875) was incredibly popular and in 1882 estblished a record for the highest price paid for a painting by a living artist.
The direct predecessor of Victorian classicists, chief among whom were Alma-Tadema, Leighton and Poynter, Long was finally elected to the R.A. in 1881. In the late 1880s, the London dealers Thomas Agnew & Sons commissioned a series of paintings illustrating figures of national beauty, which were a great success and in turn enabled Long to commission Richard Norman Shaw R.A. to design two houses for him in Hampstead.