JEAN-LÉON GÉRÔME | THE CAMEL DRIVER

Schiller & Bodo Gallery, New York (possibly by 1981)

Mathaf Gallery, London

Purchased from the above

Le Figaro illustré, Paris, vol. XII, July 1901, p. 16, illustrated (as a hand-tinted engraving)

Gerald M. Ackerman, The Life and Work of Jean-Léon Gérôme, Paris, 1986, p. 148, illustrated, p. 282-83, no. 458, catalogued & illustrated (as Camel driver / Conducteur de chameaux, dated circa 1899/1900)

Caroline Juler, Najd Collection of Orientalist Paintings, London, 1991, p. 138, cited, p. 140, catalogued & illustrated

Gerald M. Ackerman, Jean-Léon Gérôme, Monographie révisée, Paris, 2000, pp. 350-51, no. 458, catalogued & illustrated (as Conducteur de chameaux, dated circa 1900)

Set in a quiet courtyard, this painting blends Gérôme’s experience of Cairene streets with his mastery at depicting animals and their anatomies. While scenes such as Oasis (circa 1857, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston), which depict resting travellers, conform to Orientalist tropes, the present work is unique in exploring the intimate interaction between a camel and her calf.

Seated on his haunches smoking his chibouk, the camel driver on the left is poised between relaxation and readiness for movement. His blue tunic recalls that worn by a different man in The Helping Hand (see lot 124). The intense colours of the garden beyond lead the eye tantalisingly through the scene and contrast with the diffuse light of the courtyard. 

We are grateful to Dr Emily M. Weeks for her assistance in cataloguing this work which will be included in her revision of the artist's catalogue raisonné by Gerald M. Ackerman.