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Lot Essay
The Arab cavalier is the central image in Fromentin's art. His first oriental works divide fairly between Arab men astride camels and those mounted on horseback, but in the last two decades of his life the balance shifted mainly to horses. This preference may well relate to a message of 1857 from Fromentin's dealer Beugniet, conveyed to the artist by Gustave Moreau, stating that the pictures with horses were more saleable than those with camels (quoted in: B. Wright and P. Moisey, Gustave Moreau et Eugène Fromentin: documents inédits, La Rochelle, 1972, p. 97).
In the subject of the Arab and his horse, Fromentin found the 'accord of the two most intelligent and fully developed creatures that God has made', and he argued that the Greeks had invented a composite creature to represent this harmony, evoking the centaur as an analogue for the Arab's perfect communion with his animal (E. Fromentin, Une Année dans le Sahel, Paris, 1963 ed., p. 247).
Unlike many other Orientalist painters who created imaginative scenes in their Paris studios, Fromentin was no stranger to these exotic lands. As early as 1844, after seeing an exhibition of Marilhat's Orientalist pictures, Fromentin travelled to Algeria for the first time and in 1847 submitted his first Orientalist picture to the Salon. He repeated these trips to North Africa on numerous other occasions, even attending the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 with Napoleon III and Empress Eugènie. Fromentin's paintings document his visits to these exotic lands, and were very popular in late nineteenth century France, capturing the imagination of the critics and with them, the viewing public.
Dr. James Thompson has kindly confirmed the authenticity of this work.
In the subject of the Arab and his horse, Fromentin found the 'accord of the two most intelligent and fully developed creatures that God has made', and he argued that the Greeks had invented a composite creature to represent this harmony, evoking the centaur as an analogue for the Arab's perfect communion with his animal (E. Fromentin, Une Année dans le Sahel, Paris, 1963 ed., p. 247).
Unlike many other Orientalist painters who created imaginative scenes in their Paris studios, Fromentin was no stranger to these exotic lands. As early as 1844, after seeing an exhibition of Marilhat's Orientalist pictures, Fromentin travelled to Algeria for the first time and in 1847 submitted his first Orientalist picture to the Salon. He repeated these trips to North Africa on numerous other occasions, even attending the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 with Napoleon III and Empress Eugènie. Fromentin's paintings document his visits to these exotic lands, and were very popular in late nineteenth century France, capturing the imagination of the critics and with them, the viewing public.
Dr. James Thompson has kindly confirmed the authenticity of this work.