Grosse Wäsche bei Omdurman: women washing along the river Nile, Sudan

Max Rabes was one of the most celebrated German painters of his day. From an early age Rabes was eager to travel but tended to return every twenty years to Berlin. His painting expeditions took him from Germany, Italy and France to Finland and America. However his most important and frequent travels abroad were to Egypt, Israel, Palestine, Turkey and other parts of the Middle East. As a reflection of how important Max Rabes was as an Orientalist painter, he and Wolfgang Christian Gentz (1862-1914), son of Karl Wilhelm Gentz (1822-1890), were specially chosen to accompany the German Emperor and Empress on a state visit to the Middle East in 1898. Over the years, Rabes captured many other facets of Middle Eastern and North African places among such views are scenes along the Nile as can be seen in the present lot.