Charles Théodore Frère

Panel slightly bowed at lower right; under UV: varnish fluoresces in some areas, spots of inpainting to the upper left edge, a few strokes to the lower right edge and lower left corner to address frame abrasion, a couple dots of inpainting to the sky and to the figures and camels on the right.
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The Egyptian paintings of Charles-Théodore Frère are among the most instantly recognizable images in nineteenth-century Orientalist art.   Their luminous palette, precise lines, and overall sense of stillness and quietude may be considered a highly successful synthesis of competing trends within the genre, and the reasons for Frère's extraordinary commercial success. What is less often appreciated, however, is the environmental specificity of Frère's art, and its remarkable instructive potential.

In the present work, a camel caravan has come to rest on the Giza plateau, just outside of Cairo.  A group of men mill about the temporary encampment, conversing for a few moments before settling in for the long desert night.  Their tent has been pitched and a striped carpet, acting here as a privacy screen, has been stretched lengthwise beside it.  Mudbrick houses are visible behind these fabric structures; they are their more permanent foils. A fee would likely have been paid to the occupants of these modest abodes, allowing the itinerant Arabs to camp, and their weary animals to graze. About 15 to 20 kilometers north of this scene lies the village of Kerdasa, for many centuries the focus of the camel trade between Cairo and the oases, the Sahara, and various cities to the south.  The camel drivers in Frère's picture are about a day's march away, and may be on their way to or from this important locale.  

The palm trees that tower over these twilight figures perform a dual role in Frère's composition.  Their verticality breaks and balances the panoramic format, preventing it from becoming a monotonous stretch of sand and sky.  (The narrow, rectangular shape of this panel was a favorite format of Frère's, and of Orientalist painters more generally, as they sought to effectively transcribe the vast expanses of a desert landscape.  Also typical of this artist is the clear progression from foreground to middle ground to distant horizon.)  More than a mere pictorial device, however, the distinctive shapes of these trees also help to indicate the time of year: In late September, dates from the palms are harvested and their branches cut back.  In March, yellow fronds appear, filling in the gaps.  The trees in Frère's work are mid-way through this cycle, suggesting that we are on the cusp of winter and spring.  The position of the sun, setting in the south, and the lack of green vegetation in this fertile plain, points more specifically to the month of February.  (Only then, in fact, long after the summer floods of the Nile River had subsided, would the artist have been able to adopt such a viewpoint.  The floodplain on which he must have stood has dried enough for comfortable sketching.)

Of all the countries to which Frère traveled between 1837 and 1869, Egypt would have the greatest impact on the artist.  Indeed, to accommodate both his fascination with the country and the demand for Egyptian subjects among contemporary collectors, Frère decided to open his own studio in Cairo.   The wisdom of this venture can be demonstrated in both professional terms – Frère's Egyptian works sold almost as fast as he could paint them---and in personal terms as well.  Frère's growing familiarity with Cairo brought a new confidence, as well as a heightened sensitivity, to his art.   In the 1880s, Frère exhibited several paintings of the Giza pyramids, some of which have become the prizes of international museum collections.  Here, the artist looks from east to west, with the truncated pyramid of Khufu (the Great Pyramid) and the slightly smaller pyramid of Khafre visible in the distance. Omitted from the scene is the pyramid of Menkaure, the last to be built on the site.  (Dates for the pyramids are difficult to determine, but may be estimated to be between 2600 B.C. and 2500 B.C.)

This note was written by Dr. Emily M. Weeks.