An Egyptian Peasant Woman and Her Child
In December 1867, Jean-Léon Gérôme asked Bonnat, "Doesn’t a trip to the Orient seem made especially for you?" Together with other friends, they toured the Middle East from January to May 1868. This painting of a woman and child, set against the sky in a summary landscape, was inspired by the journey. The picture was praised at the Paris Salon in 1870, and again when it was first exhibited in New York in 1876. When Catharine Lorillard Wolfe bequeathed the picture to The Met it was deemed "a true and vital portrait of two clearly realized individuals [with] a wonderful dignity, sobriety, strength, and beauty."
Artwork Details
- Title: An Egyptian Peasant Woman and Her Child
- Artist: Léon Bonnat (French, Bayonne 1833–1922 Monchy-Saint-Eloi)
- Date: 1869–70
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 73 1/2 x 41 1/2 in. (186.7 x 105.4 cm)
- Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Collection, Bequest of Catharine Lorillard Wolfe, 1887
- Object Number: 87.15.97
- Curatorial Department: European Paintings
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