Walter Gould

The Artist's studio, Florence, Italy (at the time of his death)
William Henry Cook (1845-1914; the artist's nephew)
Thence by descent (until 2006)
Private Collection, Philadelphia
Acquired from the above by the present owner

Good condition. Lined. Under UV: Spots of inpainting to all four corners and dots and dashes throughout work. Varnish fluoresces in some areas.
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In 1893, Gould's nephew, and the executor of his will, William Henry Cook, traveled to Florence to pack the contents of Gould's studio and settle the estate.  He selected five paintings for himself.  In 1894, Cook donated all but one of these works, The Fabric Merchant, to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.¹ In this small and refreshingly candid oil sketch, clearly the favorite of his kin, Gould demonstrates why his name deserves a prominent place in the annals of American Orientalism.

Gould's depictions of life in Turkey, though regrettably few in number, are instantly recognizable. They are marked by an almost impossible clarity, a delicacy and precision of line, an intensity of color, and a haunting stillness, that is virtually unparalleled in the genre.  This transparency of surface is clouded only by the enigma of the artist himself: there are few known documents detailing Gould's adventurous life and even fewer recorded sketches and studies that might otherwise help to reconstruct his extraordinary creative process.  The present work, its attribution recently confirmed through the discovery of a clear provenance, is a rare exception to this rule.

In 1851, it is known that Gould visited Turkey, where he was inundated with portrait requests from resident dignitaries and foreign diplomats.  Between these commissions, Gould may have made sketches of local merchants and their activities, which would provide the inspiration for many of his later pictures.  It is very likely that the present work, a sketch for an as-yet undiscovered – or possibly unexecuted - painting, dates from this period.

The composition of The Fabric Merchant is very close to one of Gould's most famous works, Stall at the Arms Bazaar at Constantinople (sold Sotheby's, New York, 23 May 1985, lot 53), painted in 1865.  Both pictures feature a cross-legged and mustachioed figure seated atop a striped kilim (flat-woven carpet) and surrounded by several enrapt, smoking figures.  A shallow recess has been transformed into their respective shops – a common occurrence in the Middle Eastern souk, which can be witnessed still today.  A wall of tightly wound bolts of fabric is traded in the one painting for a background of fearsome weaponry in the other, larger oil; though different in design and connotation, each demonstrates Gould's inimitable skill with accessory, and his interest in situating his Turkish scenes in compelling architectural contexts.  The intricacies of the assorted attire of the men in the Arms Bazaar and the relative simplicity of the fabric merchant's dress, suggest that Gould typically worked from background to costume study, reserving the golden threads for last.

The specific hand gestures of the central male figure in The Fabric Merchant recall another work by Gould: the Eastern Storyteller of 1871 (sold, Sotheby's, 18 April 2008, lot 187). Here, a group of men have gathered to hear the speaker spin his yarn.  Again sporting a moustache, this mesmeric individual wears the same baggy white shalwars and red collarless jacket as the merchants named above.  One cannot help but wonder who this oft-repeated figure might be; with so little known of Gould's biography, it is tempting to see in the gentleman's pale skin and animated fingers a reflection of the talented artist himself.

This catalogue note was written by Dr. Emily M. Weeks.

¹ Cook's paintings are now housed at the Atwater Kent Museum, Philadelphia.

Please note this work will be sold unframed.