26 Paintings by the Orientalist Artists in the Nineteenth-Century, with footnotes, #8

Theodoros Ralli, 1852-1909, GREEK
ODALISQUE
Oil on canvas
48 by 37cm., 18¾ by 14½in.
Private Collection

An odalisque was a chambermaid or a female attendant in a Turkish seraglio, particularly the court ladies in the household of the Ottoman sultan. An odalık was not a concubine of the harem, but a maid, although it was possible that she could become one. An odalık was ranked at the bottom of the social stratification of a harem, serving not the man of the household, but rather, his concubines and wives as personal chambermaids. Odalık were usually slaves given as gifts to the sultan by wealthy Turkish men. Generally, an odalık was never seen by the sultan but instead remained under the direct supervision of his mother, the Valide Sultan. More on an odalisque

The girl in the present work wears an ornate Ottoman gold coin headdress with a fringe of star-shaped amulets, and a matching necklace. With her white diaphanous veil and dress, and hair braided into a bun, she is dressed for a special occasion or celebration, possibly her own wedding. The cropped composition and punctilious draughtsmanship of the present work suggest the influence of photography so evident in Gérôme's work also.

Born in Constantinople of Greek descent, Ralli's precocious talent came to the attention of King Otto of Greece, under whose patronage he was able to travel to Paris to enrol at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts under the tutelage of Gerome. He made his debut at the Paris Salon in 1875, and in 1900 was appointed to the jury of the Exposition Universelle. More on this painting

Théodore Jacques Ralli or Theodorus Rallis (Constantinople, 16 February 1852 – 2 October 1909, Lausanne) was a Greek painter, watercolourist and draughtsman, who spent most of his working life in Paris, France and in Egypt.

He painted genre works, portraits, local figures, architectural subjects, interiors with figures and animals. But he is best known for his orientalist paintings.

He was sent to Paris under the patronage of King Otto of Greece and studied under Jean-Léon Gérôme, and Jean-Jules-Antoine Lecomte du Nouy, both known for their orientalist paintings.

Théodore-Jacques Ralli, ISTANBUL 1852 - 1909 LAUSANNE
La fantaisie
Oil on canvas
23 x 27.5 cm. (9.1 x 10.8 in.)
Private Collection

Ralli's was favorite theme was the presentation of oriental women bathing. These topics became the pretext for the unveiling of the female body, often in lascivious and sensual poses. the above work represents a young woman in an oriental setting, leaning over a basin. The view provides access to the daily intimacy of the bather. The artist plays with the contrasts of light to highlight the purity of the body, and the milky softness of the skin. The attention to details, like the Arabic script or fine water spray of the fountain, enhances beauty and credibility. As usual, Ralli chooses to paint a moment in suspense, the same moment of hesitation for the young woman: will she enter the water or simply return to lie down on the bench that lies behind it ?

Ralli then travelled widely in North Africa and the Middle East, settling for a while in Cairo, Egypt. Here he found his inspiration for the romantic mysticism and suggestive sensuality of his many orientalistic paintings. His other genre paintings were often nostalgic recollections of the life and customs of his Greek homeland, which he portrayed with a delicate and moving reverence. His paintings were elaborated with great attention to detail, with great attention to costumes and facial expressions.

Rallis first exhibition was at the Salon in 1875. From 1879 he regularly exhibited at the Royal Academy in London. He was a member of the Société des Artistes Français, where he received an honourable mention in 1885, and a silver medal in 1889 for his whole work 

After his death he was slowly almost forgotten. It is telling that his name is not even included in the Grove Dictionary of Art. Most of his paintings are still in private collections. Only a few museums ever purchased his works. More on Théodore-Jacques Ralli

GIUSEPPE GABANI, (italian 1846-1899)
A PAUSE AT THE WELL
Watercolor on paper 
19 1/2 x 26 1/4 in. (49.3 x 66.7cm) 
Private Collection

GIUSEPPE GABANI, (italian 1846-1899). Born in Senigallia, Gabani studied first with Cesare Maccari and Giuseppe Raggio and then specialized mainly in history paintings, as well as landscapes, animals and particularly horses. He is also known for his Orientalist subjects, the majority of which include equine subjects. Between 1866 and 1870 Gabani served with the IV Cavalry. In 1866, he came to the public's attention with his painting Count Baratieri at the head of his regiment, 24 June 1866. In 1880, he was invited by Brugnoli to paint part of a mural for ceiling of the Teatro Costanzi (now the Teatro dell'Opera) in Rome. He received considerable acclaim for his painting Cavalli nella campagna, exhibited in Berlin in 1880 and in 1884 his large-scale history painting Carica del Genova Cavalleria was very well received in Turin. He also exhibited in Venice. At the exhibition in Melbourne he was given the silver medal. He died in Rome on 12 October 1900. More



Vasily Alexandrovich Kotarbinsky, (1849-1921) – Polish-Russian 
Sermon at Capernaum, 19th C
Oil on canvas
78.5 x 120.3 cm
Private Collection

Capernaum (Kfar Nahum, "Nahum's village") was a fishing village established during the time of the Hasmoneans, located on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. It had a population of about 1,500. Archaeological excavations have revealed two ancient synagogues built one over the other. A house turned into a church by the Byzantines is said to be the home of Saint Peter.

The village was inhabited continuously from the 2nd century BCE to the 11th century CE, when it was abandoned sometime before the Crusader conquest. This includes the re-establishment of the village during the Early Islamic period soon after the 749 earthquake. More

Vasily Alexandrovich Kotarbinsky (1849-1921) was a Polish painter of the 19th and early 20th century. Kotarbinsky started his artistical career at the Warsaw School of Drawing in the 1870s, later he studied at the art academy in St. Petersburg. Very important for his development were several longer stays in Rome, which had a deep impact on his way of painting and his choice of subjects. He borrowed money from his family for his first trip to Rome during his education and stayed there for three years. Characteristic for his oeuvre are the depictions of biblical subjects as well as classical Roman themes and fantastic-mythical images. One of his main works are the frescos in the St. Vladimir Cathedral in Kiev. Works of the artist are in collections in St. Petersburg and Moscow. More

Vasily Alexandrovich Kotarbinsky, (1849-1921) – Polish-Russian 
Detail; Sermon at Capernaum, 19th C
Oil on canvas
78.5 x 120.3 cm
Private Collection

BERNARD UHLE, (german/american 1847-1930) 
PORTRAIT OF A MOOR 
Oil on canvas 
46 x 34 3/4 in. (116.8 x 88.2cm) 
Private Collection

Uhle, Albrecht Bernhard (1847-1930) – Born in Chemnitz, Germany, Bernhard Uhle came to the Unite States in 1851. At the age of fifteen he entered the Pennsylvania Academy. Uhle worked as a photographer from 1867 to 1875. In 1875 he returned to Germany to study with the history painter Franz Xaver Barth and the genre artist Alexander Wagner. In 1877 Uhle returned to Philadelphia and set up a studio as a portrait painter and gained the reputation of being one of the city’s outstanding portraitists. Also an etcher, he joined the Philadelphia Society of Etchers in 1880. He was on the faculty at the Pennsylvania Academy from 1886 to 1890 and took over the portrait class once run by Thomas Eakins. Uhle was a member of the Sketch Club from 1889 to 1897. More on Uhle, Albrecht Bernhard

CIRCLE OF RUDOLF WEISS (1869), AUSTRIAN
MELODY FOR A HAREM GIRL BY THE SEA
Oil on canvas
21.5" x 15" — 54.6 x 38.1 cm.
Private Collection

RUDOLF WEISSE (USTI (AUSSIG), BOHEMIA1869 - PARIS1930) was born in Usti (Aussig), Bohemia, a town on the banks of the Elbe. He studied at the Viennese Akademie der Bildenden Künste. He exhibited at the Salon in Paris between 1889 and 1927 and also showed paintings in Vienna, London, Bordeaux and Toulon. 

Weisse specialized in portraits and Orientalist views, chiefly street scenes in Cairo, which he must have visited. He was influenced by the colourful, meticulous and realistic genre scenes of the Viennese painters Ludwig Deutsch (1855-1935) and Rudolf Ernst (1854-1932). In 1889 Weiss was awarded a Médaille d’Honneur at the Parisian Exposition Universelle for Après la guerre – scène orientale and a Portrait de femme. He won a gold medal in Vienna in 1920. 

The work of Rudolf Weisse is represented in the Najd Collection. More Rudolf Ernst

Germain Fabius Brest
A TURKISH MARKET
OIL ON CANVAS
38 by 67cm., 15 by 26½in
Private Collection

Fabius Brest (31 July 1823 in Marseille and died in the same city 5 November 1900) was a French orientalist painter.

Fabius Brest was the student painters Émile Loubon of Marseille , and Constant Troyon in Paris . On the advice of Loubon, who had made a trip to Palestine which had deeply affected him, Fabius took a trip to Turkey from 1855 to 1859. He returned with many paintings of landscapes. The Eastern, and especially oriental, architecture remained the main sources of inspiration throughout his life. More on Fabius Brest 

Ernest Buttura, (1841 - 1920)
Paysage de Turquie
OIL ON CANVAS
44 x 55 cm
Private Collection

Ernest Buttura, born 28 November 1841 in Paris and died in that city in 1920, was a French painter. He entered the School of Fine Arts in 1861 and exhibited regularly at the Salon from 1863. He divided his time between Paris and Cannes.

Siagne, the plain of Laval and the mountains of the Var inspired his work. In Cannes he had a workshop and was an iconic painter of this city. Even thouigh the majority of his paintings were landscapes, he also made studies of rocks and undergrowth, animal paintings, still lifes, bouquets of flowers, and oriental compositions. More on Ernest Buttura

Adolf Schreyer (GERMAN, 1828-1899)
Arab Caravan, c. 1860
Oil on canvas
Dayton Art Institute,  Dayton, Ohio

Adolf Schreyer (July 9, 1828 Frankfurt-am-Main – July 29, 1899 Kronberg im Taunus) was a German painter, associated with the Düsseldorf school of painting. He studied art, first at the Städel Institute in his native town, and then at Stuttgart and Munich. He painted many of his favourite subjects in his travels in the East. He first accompanied Maximilian Karl, 6th Prince of Thurn and Taxis through Hungary, Wallachia, Russia and Turkey; then, in 1854, he followed the Austrian army across the Wallachian frontier. In 1856 he went to Egypt and Syria, and in 1861 to Algiers. In 1862 he settled in Paris, but returned to Germany in 1870; and settled at Cronberg near Frankfurt, where he died.

Schreyer was, and is still, especially esteemed as a painter of horses, of peasant life in Wallachia and Moldavia, and of battle incidents. His work is remarkable for its excellent equine draughtsmanship, and for the artist's power of observation and forceful statement; and has found particular favour among French and American collectors. Of his battle-pictures there are two at the Schwerin Gallery, and others in the collection of Count Mensdorff-Pouilly and in the Raven Gallery, Berlin. More on Adolf Schreyer

Henri-Emilien Rousseau
A caravan at rest
Oil on panel
18 1/8 x 21 5/8in (46 x 55cm)
Private Collection

Henri Rousseau Henry, Emilien Rousseau (Cairo 1875 - Aix-en-Provence in 1933) is an Orientalist painter. A pupil of Jean-Léon Gérôme at the Beaux Arts in Paris, he won the second Grand Prix de Rome in 1900 and a travel grant at the Salon of French Artists. He traveled to Belgium, the Netherlands, North Africa, Spain and Italy where he admired the great masters (Rubens, Rembrandt, Velasquez, Murillo, the Titian, Raphael etc ...)

After this initiatory journey, he settled in Versailles and set up his studio at the Villa des Arts in Paris. In 1919 he moved to Aix in Provence with his large family (seven children). Knight of the Legion of Honour in arts. His work  is dedicated to Tunisia, Algeria and especially Morocco, Provence and the Camargue remained its anchor points. His success was with a bourgeois and wealthy clientele, where he sold his work at numerous exhibitions in Paris, Brussels, Stockholm, Marseilles. More on Henri-Emilien Rousseau

ADOLF SCHREYER (GERMAN, 1828-1899)
Bedouins taking aim
Oil on panel
21 1/4 x 29in (54 x 73.8cm)
Private Collection

ADOLF SCHREYER (GERMAN, 1828-1899), see above

Eugène Giraud, 1806 - 1881, FRENCH
JEUNE LAVANDIÈRE/ YOUNG WASHERMAKER, c. 1814
Oil on canvas
94 by 55.5cm., 37 by 22in.
Private Collection

Eugène Giraud (* 9. August 1806 in Paris ; † 28. December 1881 ) was a French painter and engraver , caricaturist , lithographer and set designer. Giraud was a pupil of the engraver Théodore Richomme and the painter Louis Hersent and received in 1826 the Grand Prix de Rome, for a copper engraving .

After his return from Italy , he undertook in 1846, on the occasion of the wedding of the Duke of Montpensier with the Infanta of Spain, together with the writer Adolphe Desbarolles left to Madrid . There, the two artists met Alexandre Dumas and Dumas son with whom they travel via Cádiz continuíng to North Africa. The travel experiences inspired Giraud with numerous scenes, including the people's life, and the illustrations of Alexandre Dumas the Elder.

Both King Louis Philippe and Emperor Napoléon III. Giraud favored him with orders for the galleries of the Musée Historique in Versailles Palace. 

Eugène Giraud died in 1881 at the age of 75 years in Paris. More on Eugène Giraud,

José Gallegos, 1859-1917, SPANISH
IN THE HAREM, c. 1884
Oil on canvas 
340 by 510cm., 133¾ by 200¾in.
Private Collection

José Gallegos, 1859-1917, SPANISH, spent most of his life in Italy and was a leading figure of the Spanish School in Rome, along with Mariano Fortuny y Carbo (1838-1874), José Villegas y Cordero (1848-1922) and Salvador Sanchez Barbudo (1857-1917). Cathedral interiors, choir scenes and religious festivals were among his favourite subjects; he also painted outdoor market scenes. He was a great admirer of nature and excelled in painting trees and flowers, always with the emphasis on colour and light. More on José Gallegos

George Lawrence Bulleid, (1858 - 1933)
Awakened
Watercolor on paper laid down on card
24 x 38in (61 x 96.5cm)
Private Collection

George Lawrence Bulleid, (1858 - 1933) is best known as a painter of highly finished oil paintings and watercolours of subjects from classical antiquity, in the manner of Lawrence Alma-Tadema and Albert Moore. He also painted mythological subjects, floral still lives and portraits. Bulleid worked mainly in watercolour, and exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy, the Royal Watercolour Society, of which he was elected an associate member in 1889, and the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours. As Christopher Wood has written of Bulleid, ‘Although his range of subjects is narrow, consisting almost entirely of female figures in classical settings, the intense clarity of his vision, combined with an astonishing level of technical accomplishment, mark him out as much more than just another Alma-Tadema follower. More on George Lawrence Bulleid

Fabio Fabbi
The new slave girl
Oil on Canvas
38 3/4 x 29in (98.5 x 73.5cm)
Private Collection

Fabio Fabbi was born in Bologna, Italy in 1861. As a young man, he enrolled at the Accademia Di Belle Arti in Florence and studied sculpture and painting in the 1880s, winning prizes in both categories. After his studies, he travelled to Paris, Munich, and Egypt, which was the inspiration for his Orientalist subjects. 

Upon his return to Italy, he dedicated himself solely to painting and was honoured with the distinction of professorship at the Accademia.

Fabbi's depictions of odalisques and bazaars which were well-received by the public, and his output was prolific. From 1884 onward, Fabbi regularly contributed to exhibitions in Turin, Milan and Florence. More on Fabio Fabbi

Edwin Lord Weeks
A View of Jerusalem
Oil on Canvas
39 x 60in.
Private Collection

Edwin Lord Weeks (1849 – 1903) was an American artist. Weeks was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1849. His parents were affluent spice and tea merchants from Newton, a suburb of Boston, and as such they were able to finance their son's youthful interest in painting and travelling. As a young man Weeks visited the Florida Keys to draw, and also travelled to Surinam in South America. His earliest known paintings date from 1867 when he was eighteen years old, although it is not until his Landscape with Blue Heron, dated 1871 and painted in the Everglades, that Weeks started to exhibit a dexterity of technique and eye for composition—presumably having taken professional tuition.

In 1872 Weeks relocated to Paris, becoming a pupil of Léon Bonnat and Jean-Léon Gérôme. After his studies in Paris, Weeks emerged as one of America's major painters of Orientalist subjects. Throughout his adult life he was an inveterate traveler and journeyed to South America (1869), Egypt and Persia (1870), Morocco (frequently between 1872 and 1878), and India (1882–83).

Weeks died in Paris in November 1903.[2] He was a member of the Légion d'honneur, France, an officer of the Order of St. Michael, Germany, and a member of the Munich Secession. More on Edwin Lord Weeks

Max Friedrich Rabes (German, 1868-1944) 
The scribe
Oil on canvas laid down on board
25 3/4 x 31 3/4 in
Private Collection

Max Friedrich Rabes (German, 1868-1944)  Born in Pozna, now Polandwas,  active/lived in Germany, Egypt.  Max Rabes is known for genre, street-landscape painting, stage set design, murals. In 1885, Max Rabes traveled along the Mosel River to study the landscape.  Matthias Engel of Traben-Trarbach/Mosel, Germany met him and was impressed with his talent.  He invited him to his home and also seemed to have provided some financial support.  As a gesture of appreciation, Max Rabes gave him a small water color that is in still in the family's possession. More on Max Friedrich Rabes

He visited the USA, Italy, Spain, Greece, Egypt, Russia and other countried. He became famous as a master of oriental compositions, painted genre scenes, landscapes and portraits. Participant of numerous exhibitions worldwide. He was awarded with the state gold and silver medals of Austria. Member of Munich Art Association and the Association of Berlin Artists. His works are presented in the Art Museums of Berlin, Dessau, Weimar, Munich, Vienna, etc. More on Max Friedrich Rabes

Léon François Comerre
An oriental beauty holding a pink fan
Oil on Canvas
46 3/4 x 30 1/2in (119 x 77.5cm)
Private Collection

Léon François Comerre (10 October 1850 – 20 February 1916) was a French academic painter, famous for his portraits of beautiful women. Comerre was born in Trélon, in the Département du Nord, the son of a schoolteacher. He moved to Lille with his family in 1853. From an early age he showed an interest in art and became a student of Alphonse Colas at the École des Beaux-Arts in Lille, winning a gold medal in 1867. From 1868 a grant from the Département du Nord allowed him to continue his studies in Paris at the famous École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in the studio of Alexandre Cabanel. There he came under the influence of orientalism.

Comerre first exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1871 and went on to win prizes in 1875 and 1881. In 1875 he won the Grand Prix de Rome. This led to a scholarship at the French Academy in Rome from January 1876 to December 1879. In 1885 he won a prize at the "Exposition Universelle" in Antwerp. He also won prestigious art prizes in the USA (1876) and Australia (1881 and 1897). He became a Knight of the Legion of Honour in 1903.  More Léon Comerre

Albert Besnard
La bayadère, Hindu dancing girl
Oil on panel
19 5/8 x 24in (50 x 61cm)
Private Collection

Paul-Albert Besnard (2 June 1849 – 4 December 1934) was a French painter and printmaker. He was born in Paris and studied at the École des Beaux-Arts, studied with Jean Bremond and was influenced by Alexandre Cabanel. He won the Prix de Rome in 1874 with the painting Death of Timophanes.

Until about 1880 he followed the academic tradition, but then broke away completely, and devoted himself to the study of colour and light as conceived by the Impressionists. The realism of this group never appealed to his bold imagination, but he applied their technical method to ideological and decorative works on a large scale.

A great virtuoso, he achieved brilliant successes alike in watercolour, pastel, oil and etching, both in portraiture, in landscape and in decoration. His close analysis of light can be studied in his picture La femme qui se chauffe at the Luxembourg in Paris, one of a large group of nude studies.

Partly under the influence of Thomas Gainsborough and Joshua Reynolds, whom he studied during a three-years stay in England, he applied his methods to a brilliant series of portraits, especially of women. His landscape work is represented by L'ile heureuse, and Un Ruisseau dans la Montagne (1920). A symbolist in his decorative work, Besnard's frank delight in the external world and his “chic” luminous technique bring him close to the 18th-century French painters.

He was represented in the official exhibition of French art held in the United States in 1919-20 by a symbolic 1917 portrait of Cardinal Mercier. An important exhibition of his works was shown in different cities of the United States in 1924. In 1932, he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Honorary Corresponding member. More on Albert Besnard

Henry A. Ferguson
Travelers before the walls of an Arab town
Oil on canvas
15 x 24 1/2in (38 x 62cm)
Private Collection

Henry Augustus Ferguson (c. 1842-1911) was an American landscape painter of the Hudson River School, distinguishing himself by depicting scenes from South America to the Middle East.[1]

His birth is variously dated between 1842 and 1845, in Glen Falls, New York. He studied painting under Homer Dodge Martin and George Henry Boughton in Albany when he was under the age of 18, moving to New York City "in the early years of the Civil War."  He continued to paint the Hudson Valley, and exhibited at the National Academy of Design in 1867 and 1870. Ferguson spent much of the 1870s out of the country on long painting expeditions, based mainly in Santiago, Chile, selling work to patrons in South America, as well as preparing a trove of sketches for later completion. Returning to New York by the close of 1873, he set up shop. He continued to produce finished works from this expedition before setting off for another multi-year excursion to Cairo and Venice. He died in New York City on March 23, 1911 More on Henry A. Ferguson

French School, 19th Century
An Arab warrior smoking a pipe
Watercolor and gouache on blue paper
13 1/4 x 9 1/2in (33.6 x 24.2cm)
Private Collection

19th-century French art was made in France or by French citizens during the following political regimes: Napoleon Bonaparte's Consulate (1799-1804) and Empire (1804-1814), the Restoration under Louis XVIII and Charles X (1814-1830), the July Monarchy under Louis Philippe d'Orléans (1830-1848), the Second Republic (1848-1852), the Second Empire under Napoleon III (1852-1871), and the first decades of the Third Republic (1871-1940).

Many of the developments in French arts in this period parallel changes in literature. More on 19th-century French art 

Sergei Ivanovich Vasilkovsky , 1854-1917
Vasilkovsky Resting with Kossacks
Oil on board
9 x 5 1/2 in (22.8 x 13.4 cm)
Private Collection

Sergei Ivanovich Vasilkovsky (October 19, 1854, Izium — October 7, 1917, Kharkiv) was one of the most prolific Ukrainian artists of the pre-revolutionary period and an expert on Ukrainian ornamentation and folk art. Vasylkivsky was born and spent his childhood in the picturesque surroundings of Izium, a city in the historical region of Sloboda Ukraine, and today's Kharkiv Oblast. The future painter had a chumak grandfather whose roots reached cossack ancestral lines. Vasylkivsky's father was a writer and taught his son the aesthetics of proper calligraphy. His mother, through her folk songs set the foundation which provided the inspiration for Vasylkivsky's art later in life.

In 1876, contrary to his father's wishes, Vasylkivsky left for the St. Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts. His education was supplemented with traveling exhibitions and trips back home. Upon graduation in 1885 he traveled to Europe and North Africa on a scholarship from the Academy, painting places he visited from Spain to Germany and Egypt.

In Paris, Vasylkivsky became fascinated with the Barbizon school. By the time he returned to the Academy, Vasylkivsky brought with him an exhibition of almost 50 art works. Critics praised these paintings. The paintings reflected the influence of the Barbizon School's panoramic depiction of space, the sky and the silvery atmosphere of "Pierre Corot". Vasylkivsky retained these characteristics in his Ukrainian landscapes.

After settling in Kharkiv in 1888, he became active in Ukrainian artistic circles and headed the architectural and art society there. Vasylkivsky died at age 62 in Kharkiv. More on Sergei Ivanovich Vasilkovsky

Stanisław Chlebowski (1835–1884)
The prayer
Oil on panel
17 3/4 x 11 1/2in (45 x 29.5cm)
Private Collection

Stanisław Chlebowski (1835–1884) was a Polish painter with Russian and Turkish connections. He was a renowned specialist in Oriental themes. Chlebowski was born in Podole, and learned drawing in Grekov Odessa Art school. Between 1853-1859, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, and then on a scholarship for six years in Paris as the pupil of the French Orientalist painter Jean-Léon Gérôme. Chlebowski traveled to Spain, Italy, Germany, and Belgium. His first success was selling his painting Joanne d’Arc in Amiens Prison to Napoleon III of France.

In the years 1864-1876 Chlebowski was master painter for Sultan Abdülaziz and took up residence in Constantinople. Chlebowski became popular in the sultanate. During his services, he had obtained permission to bring with him a large icon of Mother of God Leading Our Way having been rescued from the Hodegon Monastery in 1453. He had come across it in one of the magasins with old relics, unheeded by the Ottoman keeper. This account is certified in a letter by the Comité National Polonais à Constantinople, dated June 27, 1938.

In 1876 he moved to Paris. In 1881 he returned permanently to Krakow. The subject matter of his watercolors and oil paintings is diverse. He painted images of historical battles related to the history of Turkey, oriental genre scenes, landscapes, and portraits of sultans. He died near Posen, in Rundhausen at age 49.

Chlebowski lived abroad for a long time and as a result his paintings were very rare in Poland. The National Museum in Krakow houses some of his other important Orientalist works such as Entrée de Mahomet II à Stamboul. More on Stanisław Chlebowski

Fabio Fabbi
The slave market
Oil on panel
39 1/2 x 21 1/2in (100.3 x 54.6cm)
Private Collection

Fabio Fabbi
Orientalist Painting
Oil on panel
31 x 22 in, ornate gilt frame: 43 x 34 in
Private Collection

Fabio Fabbi, see above

Gyula Tornai (1861 – 1928)
The Moroccan bride
Oil on panel
31 x 22 in, ornate gilt frame: 43 x 34 in
Private Collection

Gyula Tornai (1861 in Görgő – 1928 in Budapest) was a great Hungarian orientalist painter. Tornai studied painting at three different academies: Vienna, Munich, and Budapest. He then traveled to India, China, and Japan before settling in Morocco. He stayed in Tangier between 1890-1891. He participated in the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1900, where he received a bronze medal. He died in Budapest in 1928. More on Gyula Tornai



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17 Paintings of the Canals of Venice in the 18 & 19th Century, by the artists of the time, with foot notes. #2

Beppe Ciardi, 1875 - 1932, ITALIAN
WALKING ALONG THE WATER, VENICE
Oil on canvas
27 3/4 by 31 3/4 in., 70.5 by 80.6 cm
Private Collection

Beppe Ciardi (1875–1932) was an Italian painter. Born in Venice, he was the son of the painter Guglielmo and the brother of Emma, who also became a notable artist. Beppe Ciardi studied under his father at the Venice Academy of Fine Arts from 1896. He graduated in 1899 and his participation in the Venice Biennale began the same year with the Esposizione Internazionale d’Arte di Venezia, where his work continued to be exhibited in later years and was featured in a solo show in 1912. The author of landscapes characterised by a symbolic interpretation of nature that won the esteem of critics, he was awarded the Fumagalli Prize in Milan (1900), a gold medal in Munich (1901) and a silver medal in San Francisco (1904). His work drew inspiration in later decades from everyday life in Venice and the countryside around Treviso. He died in the family villa at Quinto di Treviso in 1932. More

Antonio Reyna
A side view of Santa Maria della Salute
Oil on canvas 
25 1/2 x 20 3/4 in
Private Collection

Santa Maria della Salute, see below

Antonio Maria de Reyna Manescau (1859-1937), Spanish,  began life and his artistic passion in Malaga, studying at the Spanish city’s School of Fine Art. Encouraged to study abroad, he arrived in Rome and traveled on to Venice as early as 1876, and immediately began a lifelong effort to capture the canaled city's topical landscapes.

The architectural of Venice highlights the career works of Reyna. Often the Basillica at San Marcos, the Santa Maria della Salute, or other prominent landmarks are portrayed by this artist, and it is pleasant to note that his views of the remote backwaters and unique spots of the Italian City-State are given equal importance and weight by this artist.

Reyna painted with a critical focus for accurate proportions and colorful, vibrant subjects in his works. More often they are traditional horizontal presentations with a ratio of greater than two-to-one in width to height, focusing the views into panoramic scenes of vast distance and close detail combined. Reyna highlighted his career by exhibiting works with the National Society of Fine Art in Paris in 1887, and at a large exposition at the National University of Rome in 1911. More

Antonio Maria de Reyna Manescau (1859-1937)
A quiet canal in Venice
Oil on canvas 
18 3/8 x 13 1/2 in
Private Collection

Antonio Maria de Reyna Manescau (1859-1937), see above

Diana Maxwell Armfield RA (British, born 1920)
'Dusk in the Piazzetta, Venice'
Oil on canvas 
40 x 34cm (15 3/4 x 13 3/8in).
Private Collection

Diana Maxwell Armfield RA (British, born 1920) studied at the Slade School of Fine Art and Central School of Arts and Crafts. She was Artist in Residence in Perth, Australia in 1985, and in Jackson, Wyoming, USA in 1989.

She started her career in textile and wallpaper design in partnership with Roy Passano; they contributed to the 1951 Festival of Britain and examples of their work are in the permanent collection at the V&A.

After teaching at the Byam Shaw School of Art for some years, Armfield turned to painting in 1965 and has pursued a successful career ever since. “I enjoy the different challenges offered by working in pastel, watercolour and print making, but return to the two first and drawing as fundamental to my way of observing and translating.” In 2010 Browse and Darby held an exhibition to mark Armfield’s 90th birthday and she was the featured artist in the RWS Spring Show 2011. More

Ken Howard R.A. (British, born 1932)
Canal view, Venice 
Oil on canvas
61 x 30.5cm (24 x 12in).
Private Collection

Ken Howard R.A. (British, born 1932) studied at Hornsey School of Art from 1949 to 1953. He then did his National Service with the Royal Marines before returning to study at the Royal College of Art from 1955 to 1958. He went on to win a British Council Scholarship to Florence from 1958 to 1959.

Howard’s first solo show was held at the Plymouth Art Centre in 1955. Subsequent exhibitions were held in 1966 and 1968 at the John Whibley Gallery. From then on he exhibited extensively, both nationally and internationally, particularly with the New Grafton Gallery from the early 1970s. He was given a retrospective in 1972 at the Plymouth City Art Gallery and in 1973 and 1979 was appointed by the Imperial War Museum as official artist in Northern Ireland. He also worked with the British Army in Germany, Cyprus, Oman, Hong Kong, Nepal, Norway, Canada, Belize and Brunei from 1973 to 1982.

Howard was elected a member of the New English Art Club in 1962, the Royal Institute of Oil Painters in 1966, the Royal Society of Painters in Watercolours in 1979, the Royal West of England Academy 1981, Honorary Member of the Royal Society of British Artists in 1988, Royal Academician in 1991 and President of the New English Art Club in 1998. Among his numerous awards are First Prize in the Lord Mayor’s Art Award in 1966, a Prize Winner in the John Moores Exhibition, Liverpool in 1978, first prize in the Hunting Group Awards and the Critics Prize at Sparkasse Karlsruhe in 1985. Ken Howard lives and works in London. More

Rubens Santoro, 1859 - 1942, ITALIAN
GONDOLAS ON A VENETIAN CANAL, SANTA MARIA DELLA SALUTE IN THE DISTANCE
Oil on canvas
19 5/8 by 14 3/8 in., 49.9 by 36.5 cm
Private Collection

Santa Maria della Salute (English: Saint Mary of Health), commonly known simply as the Salute, is a Roman Catholic church and minor basilica located at Punta della Dogana in the Dorsoduro sestiere of the city of Venice, Italy.

It stands on the narrow finger of Punta della Dogana, between the Grand Canal and the Giudecca Canal, at the Bacino di San Marco, making the church visible when entering the Piazza San Marco from the water. The Salute is part of the parish of the Gesuati and is the most recent of the so-called plague-churches.

In 1630, Venice experienced an unusually devastating outbreak of the plague. As a votive offering for the city's deliverance from the pestilence, the Republic of Venice vowed to build and dedicate a church to Our Lady of Health (or of Deliverance, Italian: Salute). The church was designed in the then fashionable baroque style by Baldassare Longhena, who studied under the architect Vincenzo Scamozzi. Construction began in 1631. Most of the objects of art housed in the church bear references to the Black Death.

The dome of the Salute was an important addition to the Venice skyline and soon became emblematic of the city, inspiring artists like Canaletto, J. M. W. Turner, John Singer Sargent, and Francesco Guardi. More

Rubens Santoro (October 26, 1859 in Mongrassano, Province of Cosenza, Calabria – 1942 in Naples) was an Italian painter. He moved to Naples at 10 years of age, to study literature, but his inclination was painting. He only briefly enrolled at the Neapolitan Academy, instead, real life was his model. His first work was a small and simple genre piece: A Girl who Laughs, exhibited at the Promotrice. Domenico Morelli took note and encouraged him.

Santoro continually changed his vistas, painting in Torre Annunziata, Castellammare di Stabia, Procida, the Amalfi Coast, and Resina. During the long trips to the open countryside, he distracted himself by playing the mandolin. Many of his Amalfi landscapes were bought by the Goupil Gallery. Two were displayed at the 1877 Exposition at Naples: Marina di Maiuri and Grotta degli Zingari.  He moved to Paris, and after an excursion in England, returned to Naples even more prolifict. His painting Verona, exhibited at 1911 exhibition of Barcelona was awarded a Silver medal. More

Rubens Santoro, 1859 - 1942, ITALIAN
VIEW ACROSS THE GRAND CANAL FROM DORSODURO WITH THE BELL TOWER OF SAN MARCO 
Oil on canvas
10 1/2 by 17 3/8 in., 26.7 by 44.1 cm
Private Collection

Rubens Santoro, 1859 - 1942, ITALIAN, see above

Edward William Cooke, 1811 - 1880, BRITISH
VENICE, SUNSET BEHIND THE CHURCH OF SANTA MARIA DELLA SALUTE, c. 1855
Oil on paper laid on canvas
11 by 17 3/4 in., 28 by 45 cm
Private Collection

Following in the footsteps of Canaletto, Francesco Guardi, and Joseph Mallord William Turner, Edward William Cooke spent ten seasons in Venice from 1850-1877, enticed by the city’s architecture mirrored in the waterways and lagoons.  With the help of his gondolier, Vincenzo Grilla, who rowed the artist to new vantage points, Cooke found innumerable subjects for his paintings and captured his favorite views repeatedly under different light effects and weather conditions.  As John Munday notes, “What marine painter, worth his salt, could ignore the call of the Serenissima? Certainly not Edward Cooke, for her waterways fringed by palaces and churches of a unique style reflecting moving colour and light were thronged by a fascinating variety of working craft. More

Santa Maria della Salute, commonly known simply as the Salute, is a Roman Catholic church and minor basilica located at Punta della Dogana in the Dorsoduro sestiere of the city of Venice, Italy.

It stands on the narrow finger of Punta della Dogana, between the Grand Canal and the Giudecca Canal, at the Bacino di San Marco, making the church visible when entering the Piazza San Marco from the water. The Salute is part of the parish of the Gesuati and is the most recent of the so-called plague-churches.

The dome of the Salute was an important addition to the Venice skyline and soon became emblematic of the city, inspiring artists like Canaletto, J. M. W. Turner, John Singer Sargent, and Francesco Guardi. More

Edward William Cooke, R.A., F.R.S., F.Z.S., F.S.A., F.G.S. (27 March 1811 – 4 January 1880) was an English landscape and marine painter, and gardener. Cooke was born in Pentonville, London, the son of well-known line engraver George Cooke; his uncle, William Bernard Cooke (1778–1855), was also a line engraver of note, and Edward was raised in the company of artists. He was a precocious draughtsman and a skilled engraver from an early age, displayed an equal preference for marine subjects and published his "Shipping and Craft" – a series of accomplished engravings – when he was 18. He benefited from the advice of many of his father’s associates, notably Clarkson Stanfield and David Roberts. Cooke began painting in oils in 1833, took formal lessons from James Stark in 1834 and first exhibited at the Royal Academy and British Institution in 1835, by which time his style was essentially formed.
He went on to travel and paint with great industry at home and abroad, indulging his love of the 17th-century Dutch marine artists with a visit to the Netherlands in 1837. He returned regularly over the next 23 years, studying the effects of the coastal landscape and light, as well as the works of the country's Old Masters, resulting in highly successful paintings.
Cooke was "particularly attracted by the Isle of Wight, and on his formative visit of 1835 he made a thorough study of its fishing boats and lobster pots; above all he delighted in the beaches strewn with rocks of various kinds, fishing tackle, breakwaters and small timber-propped jetties." More

Edward Pritchett, FL.1828-1864, BRITISH
THE CHURCH OF THE SALUTE, VENICE
Oil on canvas
36 by 56 in., 92 by 143 cm
Private Collection

Santa Maria della Salute, see above
Pritchett developed a deep knowledge of Venice, which allowed him to recreate it so vividly. Far from being merely topographical, his paintings capture the essence of the picturesque city, with its crumbling stonework, vivacious locals, and bustle of commerce. The present work depicts Venice as a center of trade, humming with life and the exchange of goods, as it has for centuries. In this scene, fishermen and merchants go about their daily business at the entrance to the Grand Canal. Amidst the fast pace of this commercial hub, the architectural splendor appears timeless. More
Edward Pritchett (fl. 1828 – 1864) was a nineteenth-century English painter and man of mystery.
Nothing is known of Pritchett's life; he has appropriately been described as "elusive." He may have lived to 1879. Pritchett spent more than three decades living and working in Venice, producing admirable views of the city; he was one of a group of English artists who produced notable records of the scenes of northern Italy, a group that included John Wharlton Bunney, James Holland, the brothers-in-law Luke Fildes and Henry Woods, and, in a later generation, William Logsdail. More

Christian Kruck (1925-1985)
Santa Maria della Salute
Lithograph in colors on wove paper
51 x 62.5 cm
Private Collection

Santa Maria della Salute, see above

Christian Kruck (1925-1985) initially completed an apprenticeship as lithographer and then studied, interrupted by military service and captivity, in Nuremberg and Freiburg. He worked as a freelance artist in Hamburg since 1949 and developed the complex printing process of lithography painting. In 1953 he became technical director of the printing workshops at the Städel School in Frankfurt, in 1970 he received a lectureship in printmaking. Kruck, who also created paintings and sculptures, received for his intensive study of the lithography the first prize of the International Senefelder Foundation in 1975. More

J. Warren Sheppard (American, 1882-1943)
Untitled (Venice)
Oil on canvas
17" x 14"
Private Collection
J. Warren Sheppard (American, 1882-1943), was known primarily for his newspaper and magazine illustrations. He lived in New York and created work for the Brooklyn Eagle, New York Herald Tribune, the New York Sun, Century and Scribner's magazines.  He took lessons from his father, Warren Sheppard. More

Francesco Zanin, (Italian, 1843–1890)
The Piazza San Marco, Venice, in the early hours of the last evening of carnival
Oil on canvas
76 x 122in. (193 x 309.9 cm.)
Private Collection

Piazza San Marco or St. Mark’s Square is the main public square in Venice.  The Piazza is located in front of the great Byzantine church known as Basilica di San Marco. This Piazza is surrounded by shops, caffè’s and palazzi on three sides. According to local legend Napoleon called the Piazza San Marco “the drawing room of Europe.” More

Francesco Zanin, (Italian, 1843–1890) was a painter of Venetian scenes and a faithful follower in the tradition of the great Giovanni Antonio Canal called Canaletto.

Zanin was painting dramatic and picturesque views of Venice, marked by strong contrasts of light and shade and free handling. Meanwhile, partly under the influence of Canaletto, Zanin began to turn out views which were more topographically accurate, set in a higher key, and with smoother, more precise handling, characteristics that mark most of his later work. This phase of his work culminated in this splendid work titled The Grand Canal, Venice. At the same time he began painting the ceremonial and festival subjects which ultimately formed an important part of his work.

His patrons were chiefly European collectors, for whom he was believed to have produced a series of views in uniform size. It is popularly believed that he also made a remarkable series of drawings in pen, and pen and wash, as both preparation for paintings and independent works of art. This led to changes in his style of painting, increasing an already well-established tendency to become stylized and mechanical in handling. Experts in Venetian art observe the probable use of the camera obscura as an aid to composition.

His depictions of the splendour of the grand Venetian palazzos are always drawn with breathtaking precision and faultless perspective drawing and he manages to achieve something of the light atmosphere and mystique for which the master is so highly prized. More


Jean-François Raffaëlli
Vue de Venise
Oil on paper laid down on canvas
8 1/2 x 18 1/4in (21.5 x 46.3cm)
Private Collection

Jean-François Raffaëlli (April 20, 1850 – February 11, 1924) was a French realist painter, sculptor, and printmaker who exhibited with the Impressionists. He was also active as an actor and writer.

Born in Paris, he was of Tuscan descent. He showed an interest in music and theatre before becoming a painter in 1870. One of his landscape paintings was accepted for exhibition at the Salon in that same year. In October 1871 he began three months of study under Jean-Léon Gérôme at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris; he had no other formal training.

Raffaëlli produced primarily costume pictures until 1876, when he began to depict the people of his time—particularly peasants, workers, and ragpickers seen in the suburbs of Paris—in a realistic style. His new work was championed by influential critics such as J.-K. Huysmans, as well as by Edgar Degas.

Degas invited Raffaëlli to participate in the Impressionist exhibitions of 1880 and 1881, an action that bitterly divided the group; not only was Raffaëlli not an Impressionist, but he threatened to dominate the 1880 exhibition with his outsized display of 37 works. Monet, resentful of Degas's insistence on expanding the Impressionist exhibitions by including several realists, chose not to exhibit.

After winning the Légion d'honneur in 1889, Raffaëlli shifted his attention from the suburbs of Paris to city itself, and the street scenes that resulted were well received by the public and the critics. He made a number of sculptures, but these are known today only through photographs. In the later years of his life, he concentrated on color printmaking. Raffaëlli died in Paris on February 11, 1924. More


Félix Ziem (February 26, 1821 – November 10, 1911)
The Doge's Palace, Venice, inundated
Oil on canvas
11 x 15 7/8in (28 x 40.3cm)
Private Collection

The Doge's Palace (Italian: Palazzo Ducale) is a palace built in Venetian Gothic style, and one of the main landmarks of the city of Venice in northern Italy. The palace was the residence of the Doge of Venice, the supreme authority of the former Republic of Venice, opening as a museum in 1923. More

Félix Ziem (February 26, 1821 – November 10, 1911) was a French painter in the style of the Barbizon School. He was born Félix-Francois Georges Philibert Ziem in Beaune in the Côte-d'Or département of the Burgundy région of France. His mother was a native of Burgundy who had married an immigrant. Originally, Ziem planned to be an architect and studied at the School of Architecture in Dijon, and for a time he worked as an architect. In 1839 he moved to Marseilles, where he received some informal instruction in painting from Adolphe Monticelli. Painting developed from a hobby into a career following a visit in 1841 to Italy, where he fell in love with the city of Venice, a place that would become the source for many of his works, and to which he returned annually until 1892. Apart from Venetian scenes, he also painted many still lifes, portraits, and landscapes from a variety of places including Constantinople, Martigues, Cagnes-sur-Mer and his native Burgundy. More


Félix Ziem (February 26, 1821 – November 10, 1911)
The French Gardens, Venice
Oil on panel
5 3/4 x 10in (14.6 x 43.8cm)
Private Collection

The city is full of canals, narrow streets (Calli) and historic buildings that are intertwine with each other as well as full of green areas and gardens Venice hidden behind the facades of the buildings. The tradition of Venetian gardens dates back to ancient times when, in case of war, the city was to be totally independent. More

Félix Ziem (February 26, 1821 – November 10, 1911), see above

Warren Sheppard, (American, 1858-1937)
Venice, the French Gardens
Oil on Canvas

16 x 24 Inches
Private Collection

J. Warren Sheppard (American, 1882-1943), was known primarily for his newspaper and magazine illustrations. He lived in New York and created work for the Brooklyn Eagle, New York Herald Tribune, the New York Sun, Century and Scribner's magazines.  He took lessons from his father, Warren Sheppard. More


Félix Ziem (February 26, 1821 – November 10, 1911)
San Giorgio, Venice
Oil on panel
10 5/8 x 15in (27 x 38cm)
Private Collection

San Giorgio Maggiore is one of the islands of Venice, northern Italy, lying east of the Giudecca and south of the main island group.

San Giorgio Maggiore was probably occupied in the Roman period; after the foundation of Venice it was called Insula Memmia after the Memmo family who owned it. By 829 it had a church consecrated to St George; thus it was designated as San Giorgio Maggiore to be distinguished from San Giorgio in Alga.

The San Giorgio Monastery was established in 982, when the Benedictine monk, Giovanni Morosini, asked the doge Tribuno Memmo to donate the whole island for a monastery. Morosini drained the island's marshes next to the church to get the ground for building, and founded the Monastery of San Giorgio Maggiore, and became its first abbot.

San Giorgio is now best known for the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore, designed by Palladio and begun in 1566. The belltower has a ring of 9 bells in C#.

In the early 19th century, after the Republic fell, the monastery was almost suppressed and the island became a free port with a new harbour built in 1812. It became the home of Venice's artillery. More

Félix Ziem (February 26, 1821 – November 10, 1911), see above


Félix Ziem (February 26, 1821 – November 10, 1911)
Quai des Sept Martyrs
Oil on panel
20 3/4 x 31 1/2 in
Private Collection

On the 3rd of August, 1944, in front of the eyes of men, women and children of Castello, 7 young men, aged between 20 and 46, were executed by a German firing squad. Their punishment was in reprisal for the death of a German sentry. It was later found that he had fallen into the water and drowned, with no evidence of any foul play.

This stretch of the Riva was renamed as Riva dei Sette Martiri (the Riva of the Seven Martyrs). More



Félix Ziem (February 26, 1821 – November 10, 1911), see above





Acknowledgement: Sotheby'sBONHAMS NEW YORK

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