Frederick Arthur Bridgman

Acquired by the family of the present owner in the 1960s; thence by descent

Original canvas. Apart from a few minor spots of retouching visible under ultraviolet light, notably in the lower parts of the palm foliage, and scattered faint hairline craquelure, notably in the purple pigments in the lower centre, this work is overall in very good original condition, and is ready to hang.
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The harem paintings of Frederic Arthur Bridgman are among the most intriguing in nineteenth-century Orientalist art, for reasons that might surprise. Whereas most painters delighted in the opportunity to indulge their voyeuristic fantasies and fill their compositions with nude or semi-clad women in a variety of provocative situations and poses, Bridgman took a different path. His harem scenes reveal a more conservative, more domestic, and more family-orientated side of North African women's lives, in which they converse, play music, or engage in the manufacture of local handicrafts with their children by their side. North African Harem, painted at the height of Bridgman's career, is a striking example of this beloved theme.

The subject of the north African harem draws directly from Bridgman's travels and experiences, while the painting's innovative use of colour and atmospheric effects reflects his formal interests at the time. Three young North African women (possibly - based on other works by Bridgman - from the Algerian village of El Biar), sit comfortably on a Berber carpet spread upon the floor. Beside one woman is a carved wooden lute, forgotten for the moment. Incense burns and tea has been served; the mood is peaceable and light. Also included in this group is a sweet-faced girl. She looks outward, toward the viewer, and cradles a doll lovingly in her hands. The girl, like the woman to her right, reclines against a pile of soft, beautifully embroidered cushions.

In February of 1867, Bridgman entered the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and spent the next four years in the studio of the noted academic figure painter and Orientalist Jean-Léon Gérôme. Bridgman became deeply influenced by Gérôme's precise draftsmanship, smooth finishes, and concern for Middle Eastern themes. Indeed, Bridgman would even become known as 'the American Gérôme'. No mere imitator, however, and also intensely interested in the saturated colours and impasto brushstrokes of the Spanish painter Mariano Fortuny (lot 109), Bridgman would adopt a more naturalistic aesthetic in the 1880s, emphasising bright colours and painterly – even impressionistic – brushwork.

The above are extracts from Dr Emily M. Weeks's essay on the painting, the full version of which can be viewed on the online catalogue at sothebys.com.