A rare masterpiece by #jeanleongerome will lead Sotheby's annual Orientalist Sale in #london. Cinematic in scale and impact, Rider and His Steed in the Desert is a unique work in Gérôme's oeuvre. The highly charged picture captures both the stoicism of the North African tribespeople and a heroic struggle between man and nature. Estimated at £1,000,000-1,500,000, the oil is one of five works by the artist in a sale comprising 79 exceptional paintings, watercolours and sculptures that together provide fascinating historical insights into the Arab, Ottoman, and Islamic worlds during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Launched as an annual event by Sotheby's in #london in 2012 and now in its eighth season, The Orientalist Sale on 30 April 2019 will go on exhibition from 25 April alongside the Arts of the Islamic World auction, as part of Orientalist & Middle Eastern Week.
Claude Piening, Sotheby's Head of Orientalist Paintings, commented: "We are particularly pleased with the breadth and depth of this year's sale, distinguished by a single-owner group of watercolours of the Holy Land, North Africa and India by #davidroberts, and no fewer than five oils by #jeanleongerome. Of these, Rider and his Steed, the highlight of the sale, is an especially powerful and emotional image of a moment of tenderness between man and beast against the backdrop of the sun-drenched desert. Cinematic in its conception even before the medium of film existed, with its wide-angle perspective and bright luminosity, the viewer is drawn into the scene which engages our imagination and our empathy: how have this rider and his exhausted horse ended up here? Where were they heading before they fell victim to heat and thirst? Bought at the landmark exhibition Artist Travellers at the Fine Arts Society in #london in 1980, the painting is unique in Gérôme's oeuvre in as much as he never produced other versions ofrépliques of the subject."
Further works in the sale include:
Ben Marshall, The Malcolm Arabian, together wirh a Dark Grey Mare in an Arabian Landscape, est. £200,000-300,000
Carl Haag, The Inner Corridor of the Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem, est. £40,000-60,000
Carl Saltzmann, Leander's Tower and the Old City Beyond, Constantinople, est. £100,000-150,000
David Roberts, Front Elevation of the Great Temple of Aboo-Simbel [Abu Simbel], Nubia
© Copyright 2024