Alexandre-Marie GUILLEMIN (1817-1880, French)

Alexandre-Marie GUILLEMIN (1817-1880, French)

Portrait of an Arab Gentleman

circa 1850

oil on canvas

18 x 15 inches

Guillemin was a French genre painter. He studied under Baron Antoine-Jean Gros and began exhibited his works at the Paris Salon in 1840 and the famous art dealer Adolphe Goupil placed his works in important American collections in the mid-1850's. In 1861 he was awarded the Legion of Honour.

For many years he lived and worked at Bois-le-Roi, on the Seine, not far from Barbizon. Despite the fact the majority of his works are jealously kept in private collections, today you will have a chance to see them in the museums of Le Havre, Toulon, and Montreal.

This work depicts a very elegant Arab Gentleman wearing a sumptuous blue traditional habit decorated with golden ornament and classical Victorian men’s fashion shoes writing on a rock in a thoughtful pose. This portrait, completely inscribed in the Western European tradition, wants to pay tribute to the Arab Intelligentsia.