RUDOLF ERNST | THE PALACE GUARDS

Sale: Christie's, New York, February 26, 1982, lot 119, illustrated 

Acquired at the above sale 

After studying at the Vienna Academy, Rudolf Ernst settled in France, where he regularly exhibited at the Salon de la Société des artistes français. From the mid-1880s onwards, Ernst turned away from portraiture and genre scenes and embraced Orientalist subject matter, visiting Spain, Morocco, and Tunisia and building an impressive collection of sketches, photographs, souvenirs, and memories accumulated during his travels. In 1890, the artist travelled to Constantinople which would have a profound impact on his artistic output. A keen photographer, he took a camera with him but was afraid to use it because of Turkey's religious laws; in fact, other artist travelers such as Fausto Zonaro and Jean-Lean Gérôme faced a similar dilemma. As such, Ernst had to rely on his own sketches and memory to build his compositions.

The present work, like the majority of his paintings, was executed in Ernst’s Paris studio, which he decorated in an eclectic Eastern style. A guard, wrapped in two exotic lengths of fabric, and secured by a third, holds a scythe, which glints in the light, while he watches over a chained tiger. A sense of tension pervades this composition—the tiger and guard look in opposite directions but are fully aware not only of their proximity to each other but the inherent danger each poses. They are set on a raised dais by a still pool, while a long row of columns recedes into the shadows. While the exact location is unknown, and may be a figment of Ernst’s imagination, there are similarities to Constantinople’s Cisterna Basilica. Built in 476 AD, the cathedral-sized underground cistern is approximately 453 by 213 feet and supported by a forest of 336 marble columns, each 30 feet high.