Hippolyte Lazerges

Mathaf Gallery, London (by 1984)
Purchased from the above

Lynne Thornton, Women as Portrayed in Orientalist Painting, Paris, 1985, p. 132, catalogued & illustrated (as The Love Token)
Caroline Juler, Najd Collection of Orientalist Paintings, London, 1991, p. 185, cited, p. 186, catalogued & illustrated

Hippolyte Lazerges first travelled to Algeria with his father between 1830 and 1838. When he returned to France he became a pupil of the sculptor David d’Angers and then of the history and portrait painter François Bouchot. He made his debut at the Paris Salon in 1841 winning a third, second and first class medal in 1843, 1848 and 1864 respectively. He exhibited his first North African scene at the Salon in 1842 titled Courtisane, souvenir d’Alger and then Femmes d’Alger three years later. He finally settled in Algeria and painted many scenes of ordinary life, often depicting one or two full length figures. A Gift is an interesting example of this favoured composition and he has depicted two figures standing by the entrance of an Algerian town house. The man in a colourful burnous offers the woman a red carnation, the fleeting moment of this exchange emphasized by her pose; she is holding the door ajar with one hand as she peers out, the other hand moves the veil up to cover her face.