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Lot Essay
Alfred Dehodencq was born in 1822 in Paris, where he later studied at the Ecole des Beaux Art. In 1853, he visited Morocco for the first time and found himself completely mesmerized: 'Tangers, Tétouan, Mogador, Rabat, Salé. J'ai cru en Perdre la tête' (L. Thorton, Les Orientalistes Peintres voyageurs, Paris, 2001, p. 118). As a result, he spent the next nine years dividing his time between Tangiers and Cadiz.
During the time he spent in North Africa, Dehodencq constantly executed sketches which captured the teeming life and bustling streets of his adopted home. He then sent his completed oils back to the Paris Salon where they were enthusiastically received.
Le conteur Marocain was painted during this same period. Commissioned by the King of Portugal, Don Fernando, it stands amongst his most important works. The oil study which Dehodencq painted the same year (fig.1) is discussed in great detail in Gabriel Séailles' book Alfred Dehodencq l'homme et l'artiste. It demonstrates the artist's preoccupation with each individual; all the physiognomies, costumes and poses are carefully observed and superbly detailed. The manner in which he depicts the children sitting in the foreground reveals a softness of heart which is surprising in an individual who almost always focused on movement and violence in his oeuvre.
Dehodencq referred to himself as being the last of the Romantics; however, his ability to paint this composition with painstaking detail owes much to the Realists. The artist creates an illusion of truth and reality which enables the viewer to experience the reality of life in the streets of Morocco.
(fig. 1) Edmé-Alexis-Alfred Dehodencq, Study for Le conteur Marocain, Private Collection.
During the time he spent in North Africa, Dehodencq constantly executed sketches which captured the teeming life and bustling streets of his adopted home. He then sent his completed oils back to the Paris Salon where they were enthusiastically received.
Le conteur Marocain was painted during this same period. Commissioned by the King of Portugal, Don Fernando, it stands amongst his most important works. The oil study which Dehodencq painted the same year (fig.1) is discussed in great detail in Gabriel Séailles' book Alfred Dehodencq l'homme et l'artiste. It demonstrates the artist's preoccupation with each individual; all the physiognomies, costumes and poses are carefully observed and superbly detailed. The manner in which he depicts the children sitting in the foreground reveals a softness of heart which is surprising in an individual who almost always focused on movement and violence in his oeuvre.
Dehodencq referred to himself as being the last of the Romantics; however, his ability to paint this composition with painstaking detail owes much to the Realists. The artist creates an illusion of truth and reality which enables the viewer to experience the reality of life in the streets of Morocco.
(fig. 1) Edmé-Alexis-Alfred Dehodencq, Study for Le conteur Marocain, Private Collection.