Lot Essay
Prayer in the Desert was painted at the peak of Gérôme’s Orientalist career and depicts a vast desert landscape with a long caravan trailing into the distance. The leader of the caravan has stopped to pray, his cloak laid out on the ground in front of him as a make-shift prayer rug. A lance has been thrust into the ground beside him, a detail that not only provides a striking vertical element to an otherwise horizontal composition, but evokes the shape of a minaret as well.
The man’s bare feet peek out from his red leggings and full white skirt, identifying him as an Arnaut. The Arnauts were Albanians, but usually the term was used to mean an Albanian soldier, an irregular soldier in the Turkish army. They were identified by their pleated skirts, somewhat of a national Albanian costume. After Egypt became independent from Turkey, there were evidently plenty of them in Cairo who earned a living by various jobs: as guards, animal keepers, and models for foreign painters.
Gérôme’s first oriental costume picture was of an Arnaut in bright sunlight with a rifle on his shoulder, leading a corvé of recruits across the desert, perhaps for service in the army or for work on the Suez canal. It is carefully painted, with strong plein air effects -- particularly complex on the Arnaut’s skirt; for this difficult effect, Gérôme worked from a photograph of the skirt shot on a sunlit roof, perhaps that of his own house.
Gérôme’s most important teacher was Paul Delaroche (1797-1856), who was a supreme master of the problems of stance, posture, placement and contrapposto. Delaroche taught Gérôme how to see and project the frame and muscles under the skin and clothing of figures to show the tensions of the inner balance that supported a pose. It is that developed talent which underlies the strong presence of the Arnaut in this picture. From the 1870s single-figures in Oriental costumes and settings becomes a steady part of Gérôme’s production, many with Arnauts and their fancy skirts.
The weaponry of the main figure is rendered in Gérôme’s characteristic, highly detailed style. These objects lend an ironic twist to this otherwise pacific composition: Acts of war and peace are both at home in this barren landscape. Through individualized to some degree, the man’s bowed head, outstretched hands, and elaborate costume act, as in so many of Gérôme’s compositions, as convenient surfaces on which to investigate the play of hot, bright desert sunlight and shadow, and to display the technical virtuosity of this Orientalist artist. A few well-chosen vignettes leave us similarly impressed: In the middle distance, a grey Arabian horse
grazes patiently on a tuft of camel-weed. Arabian horses were highly prized in the Middle East, and often shared the tents of their owners. Another horse, this one with its master astride, is visible, as well: its bay head emerges from behind a sand dune.
Gérôme prided himself on his horses, saying that he practically had to become a horse-dealer to learn all about them. The artist was known for an intense scientific drive of academic realism. For Gérôme, beauty was about ‘getting it right’, much as it was for the ancient Greeks. These horses succeed because the painter got everything right: they stand correctly, the central horse grazes lazily while shifting its weight and the heads and necks are correctly proportioned. Gérôme is demonstrating his mastery of the horse by showing an en profile view. His intimate study of horses are also present in his series of small equestrian bronzes of famous historical
characters he produced in the 1890s, culminating with the splendid, over-life-sized equestrian portrait of the Duc d’Aumale in a courtyard of the stables at Chantilly, considered a triumph of academic realism.
In the furthest distance, separated from the realism of the figures by the vastness of the desert, is an ethereal mountain range, stretching the length of the horizon and partially lost in a veil of fog, echoing the belief that the sublime divinity envelops all,
and framing this moment of a deeply personal expression of religion. expanses of sand, rock, and sky, make this one of Gérôme’s
most compelling prayer paintings. As with many visitors to the Middle East, Gérôme was fascinated by the piety of Muslim
men, who would stop whatever they were doing, wherever they were, at the appointed hours of prayer. To a secular culture such
as that of Europe, such intense devotion was both intriguing and admirable. To honour this practice, and perhaps aware of
the growing interest in Comparative Religions as an academic discipline in France and England, Gérôme devoted himself
to the subject, painting Muslim men at prayer in a variety of settings and at different times of the day. Such images
proved enormously popular and today comprise a very sought after subgroup within Orientalist painting. The present painting
is unique in its composition and in the fact that it combines the artist fascination with the piety of Muslim men, as mentioned
before, with another theme often explored in the artist’s oeuvre, the Caravan. Gérôme consistently returned to the subject of the
caravan throughout his long career and his enthusiasm for the desert, combined with his adventurous spirit, account for the
dominant theme of Orientalism in his oeuvre. In the present painting, the caravan stretches far into the background. The camels, even down to the furthest animal, display the fine quality of painting and the artist drive to infuse his compositions with the most lifelike detail. The camel was, like other animals, an object of serious study for Gérôme. Many camel studies exist, betraying the artist practised hand and familiarity with the animal. These were sketches from life, not quickly drawn, but rather studied and specific in the details of bones, muscles and stances. Furthermore, they were finished beyond the usual sketch and could guide Gérôme later when he wanted to paint a camel at home in his studio, which was fairly often. The beasts are seen in various postures, standing, sitting, stretching out a neck in curiosity, lowering their heads to graze. There are separate studies of leg joints; hooves from all sides; heads from all angles; mouths open and closed and chewing: all evidence of Gérôme’s drive to “get it right.” One doesn’t know if they were done while on the spot in the Near or Middle East, or from animals in a zoo. In 1868 Gérôme set out on a great safari for the first four months of the year along with the painters Paul Lenoir and Léon Bonnat, the physician Dr. Journault and the journalist Frédéric Masson. In 1901 Masson wrote of the artist the following passage, which was published in the French newspaper le Figaro illustré: ‘Gérôme seems born for these distant voyages to which one must bring vigour of body and decision of mind. Always up, always alert and indefatigable, the commands the caravan with an authority which no one contests. The first to rise in the morning, he superintends the departure; then, erect in his saddle, he keeps going through the long hours, smoking, hunting, tracing with a rapid stroke in his
sketchbook a movement or a silhouette. Scarcely arrived at a camp, behold him commencing a study - neither rain nor wind
having the power to move him away from his camping stool.’(Frédéric Masson, le Figaro illustré, July 1901).
During his trips to the Middle East, Gérôme filled his notebooks with images of his journey. These sketches served as inspiration to the artist, helping him to capture, as in the present work, the immediacy and accuracy of detail as though recorded on the spot.
The man’s bare feet peek out from his red leggings and full white skirt, identifying him as an Arnaut. The Arnauts were Albanians, but usually the term was used to mean an Albanian soldier, an irregular soldier in the Turkish army. They were identified by their pleated skirts, somewhat of a national Albanian costume. After Egypt became independent from Turkey, there were evidently plenty of them in Cairo who earned a living by various jobs: as guards, animal keepers, and models for foreign painters.
Gérôme’s first oriental costume picture was of an Arnaut in bright sunlight with a rifle on his shoulder, leading a corvé of recruits across the desert, perhaps for service in the army or for work on the Suez canal. It is carefully painted, with strong plein air effects -- particularly complex on the Arnaut’s skirt; for this difficult effect, Gérôme worked from a photograph of the skirt shot on a sunlit roof, perhaps that of his own house.
Gérôme’s most important teacher was Paul Delaroche (1797-1856), who was a supreme master of the problems of stance, posture, placement and contrapposto. Delaroche taught Gérôme how to see and project the frame and muscles under the skin and clothing of figures to show the tensions of the inner balance that supported a pose. It is that developed talent which underlies the strong presence of the Arnaut in this picture. From the 1870s single-figures in Oriental costumes and settings becomes a steady part of Gérôme’s production, many with Arnauts and their fancy skirts.
The weaponry of the main figure is rendered in Gérôme’s characteristic, highly detailed style. These objects lend an ironic twist to this otherwise pacific composition: Acts of war and peace are both at home in this barren landscape. Through individualized to some degree, the man’s bowed head, outstretched hands, and elaborate costume act, as in so many of Gérôme’s compositions, as convenient surfaces on which to investigate the play of hot, bright desert sunlight and shadow, and to display the technical virtuosity of this Orientalist artist. A few well-chosen vignettes leave us similarly impressed: In the middle distance, a grey Arabian horse
grazes patiently on a tuft of camel-weed. Arabian horses were highly prized in the Middle East, and often shared the tents of their owners. Another horse, this one with its master astride, is visible, as well: its bay head emerges from behind a sand dune.
Gérôme prided himself on his horses, saying that he practically had to become a horse-dealer to learn all about them. The artist was known for an intense scientific drive of academic realism. For Gérôme, beauty was about ‘getting it right’, much as it was for the ancient Greeks. These horses succeed because the painter got everything right: they stand correctly, the central horse grazes lazily while shifting its weight and the heads and necks are correctly proportioned. Gérôme is demonstrating his mastery of the horse by showing an en profile view. His intimate study of horses are also present in his series of small equestrian bronzes of famous historical
characters he produced in the 1890s, culminating with the splendid, over-life-sized equestrian portrait of the Duc d’Aumale in a courtyard of the stables at Chantilly, considered a triumph of academic realism.
In the furthest distance, separated from the realism of the figures by the vastness of the desert, is an ethereal mountain range, stretching the length of the horizon and partially lost in a veil of fog, echoing the belief that the sublime divinity envelops all,
and framing this moment of a deeply personal expression of religion. expanses of sand, rock, and sky, make this one of Gérôme’s
most compelling prayer paintings. As with many visitors to the Middle East, Gérôme was fascinated by the piety of Muslim
men, who would stop whatever they were doing, wherever they were, at the appointed hours of prayer. To a secular culture such
as that of Europe, such intense devotion was both intriguing and admirable. To honour this practice, and perhaps aware of
the growing interest in Comparative Religions as an academic discipline in France and England, Gérôme devoted himself
to the subject, painting Muslim men at prayer in a variety of settings and at different times of the day. Such images
proved enormously popular and today comprise a very sought after subgroup within Orientalist painting. The present painting
is unique in its composition and in the fact that it combines the artist fascination with the piety of Muslim men, as mentioned
before, with another theme often explored in the artist’s oeuvre, the Caravan. Gérôme consistently returned to the subject of the
caravan throughout his long career and his enthusiasm for the desert, combined with his adventurous spirit, account for the
dominant theme of Orientalism in his oeuvre. In the present painting, the caravan stretches far into the background. The camels, even down to the furthest animal, display the fine quality of painting and the artist drive to infuse his compositions with the most lifelike detail. The camel was, like other animals, an object of serious study for Gérôme. Many camel studies exist, betraying the artist practised hand and familiarity with the animal. These were sketches from life, not quickly drawn, but rather studied and specific in the details of bones, muscles and stances. Furthermore, they were finished beyond the usual sketch and could guide Gérôme later when he wanted to paint a camel at home in his studio, which was fairly often. The beasts are seen in various postures, standing, sitting, stretching out a neck in curiosity, lowering their heads to graze. There are separate studies of leg joints; hooves from all sides; heads from all angles; mouths open and closed and chewing: all evidence of Gérôme’s drive to “get it right.” One doesn’t know if they were done while on the spot in the Near or Middle East, or from animals in a zoo. In 1868 Gérôme set out on a great safari for the first four months of the year along with the painters Paul Lenoir and Léon Bonnat, the physician Dr. Journault and the journalist Frédéric Masson. In 1901 Masson wrote of the artist the following passage, which was published in the French newspaper le Figaro illustré: ‘Gérôme seems born for these distant voyages to which one must bring vigour of body and decision of mind. Always up, always alert and indefatigable, the commands the caravan with an authority which no one contests. The first to rise in the morning, he superintends the departure; then, erect in his saddle, he keeps going through the long hours, smoking, hunting, tracing with a rapid stroke in his
sketchbook a movement or a silhouette. Scarcely arrived at a camp, behold him commencing a study - neither rain nor wind
having the power to move him away from his camping stool.’(Frédéric Masson, le Figaro illustré, July 1901).
During his trips to the Middle East, Gérôme filled his notebooks with images of his journey. These sketches served as inspiration to the artist, helping him to capture, as in the present work, the immediacy and accuracy of detail as though recorded on the spot.