Lot 30
  • 30

JEAN-LÉON GÉRÔME | Prayer in the Desert

Estimate
100,000 - 150,000 GBP
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Description

  • Jean-Léon Gérôme
  • Prayer in the Desert
  • signed J. L. GEROME lower right
  • oil on panel
  • 33 by 54.5cm., 13 by 21½in.

Provenance

Goupil & Cie, Paris (stock no. 1464; acquired from the artist on 17 December 1864)
Knoedler & Co., New York (purchased from the above, March 1865)
Israel Corse Jr., New York (purchased in June 1865)
Mrs M. R. Howe (her sale: American Art Galleries, New York, 12 April 1923, lot 48 (as The Hour of Prayer and incorrectly catalogued as signed lower left))
Thomas Wertemeyer, New York
Sale: Sotheby's, New York, 22 February 1989, lot 66 (authenticated by Gerald Ackerman as an autograph work by Gérôme)
Private collection (sale: Sotheby's, New York, 21 November 2017, lot 59)
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

Exhibited

New York, Goupil Gallery, 1865
New York, Sixth Annual Exhibition of the Artist's Fund Society, 1865, no. 136
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, April 1900, no. 183 (on loan)

Literature

Gerald M. Ackerman, The Life and Work of Jean-Léon Gérôme, with a Catalogue raisonné, London, 1986, p. 216 (cited under recorded first version, no. 151) 
Gerald M. Ackerman, Jean-Léon Gérôme: Monographie révisée, Catalogue raisonné mis à jour, Paris, 2000, p. 256, no. 151.3, catalogued; p. 256, illustrated (as Studio of Gérôme)
Gérôme & Goupil, Art and Enterprise, exh.cat., Paris, 2000, p. 153 (a photogravure of the present work illustrated)

Condition

Painted on cradled panel. The panel is flat, even, and ensuring a stable support. The surface is in good condition; there is a 2-cm horizontal line of retouching half way down the left edge, which appears to be addressing a hairline crack in the panel, two small specks in the distant hills, and a spot of retouching in the sky along the upper edge visible under ultraviolet light. The picture is clean and ready to hang. Held in a Salon style gilt wood frame.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Catalogue Note

Taking leave from the caravan visible in the background, an Arnaut has laid his cape on the floor and, positioning himself facing towards Mecca, is now fully absorbed in a moment of prayer in the vastness of the north African desert. Arnauts, or bashi-bazouks, were irregulars in the Ottoman army and hailed from Albania and the Balkans. The strain on the Ottoman feudal system caused by the Empire's wide expanse required heavier reliance on irregular soldiers. They were armed and maintained by the government, but did not receive pay and did not wear uniforms or distinctive badges. Because not formally trained, they could not serve in major military operations, but were useful for other tasks such as reconnaissance and outpost duty. 

Throughout his travels in the 1860s and 1870s, Gérôme made hundreds of sketches and studies and amassed an impressive collection of photographs and local goods, which were later used toward the meticulously detailed, highly polished oil paintings executed at his Paris studio, including the present work. Painted in 1864, in the year the artist was appointed by Emperor Napoleon III to head one of the three official ateliers of the École des Beaux-Arts, Prayer in the Desert was possibly the result of Gérôme’s second trip to the Orient just a few years earlier, in 1862.

The present work appears to be a réduction of a larger work of the same title currently in private hands. The production of réductions, smaller versions after the ‘official’ Salon paintings, was a common practice in the nineteenth century, to satisfy the wishes of collectors who did not have the means to buy at the annual Salon. Also made to serve as prototypes for engravers to copy in the production of commercial prints after original paintings, these were often given over to the studio, with the resulting work being only partially by the artist’s hand. However, after recent thorough examination, the present work has been identified and fully re-instated as an autograph painting by Gérôme.



To be included in Dr Emily M. Weeks's revision of the artist's catalogue raisonné by Gerald Ackerman as an original work by the artist.