Young Oriental with nargile

Description of the artwork

Since his 1868 trip to Egypt and Asia Minor, Gérôme's studio has been stocked with numerous objects brought back in his luggage to enrich his compositions. At the beginning of the 1870-1875 period, some of his Orientalist paintings featured a single figure with whom he presented these precious objects.
Our painting, completed in 1873, is entirely in keeping with this new narrative. The scene takes place in a narrow passageway, in the shadow of a Cairo alleyway. In the background, bright light strikes the whitewashed walls. A woman leans out of her window and appears to be talking to a young boy, while two women look on.

But the one who captures all our attention is a mysterious young woman sitting on a stone bench in the foreground. She has placed a narghile beside her and looks at us with a smile. To her left, we can make out the entrance to a house. Her face is covered by a thin green veil, revealing her breasts partially covered by a transparent black shirt. Her nails are painted and her hands are tattooed.

Dressed identically, this model appears in several other Gérôme paintings. In 1873, she appears in “Jeune fille arabe dans un passage” and “Souvenir du Caire”, and as early as 1870, she is one of two women playing chess. Later, in 1882, one of her models was again dressed in the same costume with baggy pants for the paintings “Femme du Caire fumant une cigarette” and “L'Orientale”.

Origin

Vente Hotel Drouot, mars 1973, bought by Mathaf Gallery
Najd Collection
James Goldsmith Collection

Literature

Catalogue raisonné by Gérard M. Ackerman, Edition ACR, reproduced p.90 et inscribed under n°230 in the catalogue raisonné