A Man from the Middle East in the Artist's Studio
Most of Leprince’s sitters seem to have been more or less like the painter himself—elegant Parisians of the middle class. The identity of the model depicted here and the circumstances that brought him into the artist’s studio are unknown, but beginning with Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt in 1798, French artists from Girodet to Gericault had relished the opportunity to paint figures in Middle Eastern dress. Leprince’s interest in this pensive man may have stemmed from the war of independence being waged by the Greeks against the Ottoman Turks in the 1820s.
Artwork Details
- Title: A Man from the Middle East in the Artist's Studio
- Artist: Auguste-Xavier Leprince (French, Paris 1799–1826 Nice)
- Date: ca. 1823–26
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 12 7/8 x 9 5/8 in. (32.7 x 24.4 cm)
- Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: The Whitney Collection, Gift of Wheelock Whitney III, and Purchase, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles S. McVeigh, by exchange, 2003
- Object Number: 2003.42.39
- Curatorial Department: European Paintings
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