RUDOLF ERNST | THE MUSICIAN

Sale: Sotheby's, London, 20 March 1985, lot 41

Mathaf Gallery, London (purchased at the above sale)

Purchased from the above

Caroline Juler, Najd Collection of Orientalist Paintings, London, 1991, p. 86, cited, p. 99, catalogued & illustrated

Painted in 1884, this is among Ernst's earliest and most lyrical Orientalist paintings. A Nubian or Sudanese street musician strums wistfully at his kissar, a type of Nubian plucked lyre. The rich layering of his robe and gown exhibit Ernst’s mastery at conveying textiles of different weights and textures. Indeed, the whole composition is a feast for the senses, convincingly conveying multiple tactile surfaces, from the player's gleaming skin and the geometric wood carving in the door panel on the left, to the mashrabiye lattice window overhanging the street, to the carved stonework. In fact, the musician's expression of concentration and unity with his instrument are so compelling that the tune he plays is almost audible.