RUDOLF ERNST | A New Dawn

Private collection, London (purchased circa 1996)

Paris, Salon, 1913, no. 662

The canvas has not been lined and is securely attached to a keyed wooden stretcher. The canvas is somewhat loose and could benefit from some light re-tensioning. There is some minor frame rubbing with associated paint losses along the extreme framing edges, mostly covered by the frame. There are small tears along the tacking edges, also covered by the frame. Inspection under ultra-violet light reveals an even layer of residual varnish and some minor cosmetic retouching, including: - some small lines in the man's eye and in the woman's face; - some spots in the foliage of the cypresses in the upper right quadrant; - a small area in the lower left corner; and - some strokes along the upper framing edge. Overall, this work presents very well and is in good condition. Presented in a decorative gilt frame. Colours are warmer and deeper than in the catalogue illustration.
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This impressive panorama is thought to be Ernst's largest known work and a veritable tour de force of Orientalist painting. Set against the backdrop of a city skyline of minarets that could be Constantinople, a man and a young woman, possibly father and daughter, itinerant and surrounded by their prized belongings, contemplate the new dawn from the hills outside the town. The painting shows off Ernst's skill not just as a landscapist and observer of light, but as a master observer of different textures - from the ceramics to the figures' silk costumes - so brilliantly observed that they are almost tactile. Ernst travelled extensively in the Ottoman Empire and north Africa, sketching and photographing copiously and collecting props of all kinds to feature in his finished paintings on his return to Fontenay-aux-Roses outside Paris where he had his studio. The present work abounds with objects, from Safavid vases, one with a brass or bronze neck, the other with a turquoise glaze; Andalusian or Damascene tiles; a Qajar Ghalian cup; an Ottoman tortoiseshell, mother of pearl, possibly ivory inlaid box; Ottoman babouche shoes; and large incised tombak chalice.

Ernst was a seminal member of the group of Vienna-trained Austrian artists - Ludwig Deutsch, Raphael von Ambros, and Charles Wilda among them - who settled in France to specialise in Orientalist subjects. Following his studies at the Vienna Academy under Anselm Feuerbach, Ernst moved to Paris, where, in 1883, he met Osman Hamdy Bey, the French-trained Ottoman painter who was among the artists who inspired him to take up the genre. This is particularly evident in the present work, whose scale and Turkish subject matter echo those of Hamdy Bey's greatest works.