RAPHAEL VON AMBROS | AWAITING THE PRAYER

Seated on an Ottoman mother-of-pearl inlaid calligrapher's chest, a Nubian guard - inlaid flintlock gun in hand - awaits the hour of prayer: to judge by the mosaic panel, inside the Mausoleum of Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad ibn Qalawun in Cairo. In the foreground, a large copper incense burner emits delicate curls of smoke, while in the background two rays of sun hit the marble threshold to the entrance. The guard's iridescent green silk green gown mirrors the jade green incense holder beneath the burner. 

The minute detail and photographic realism of this tranquil scene are testament to the artist's academic training at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, then in Vienna under Hans Makart, and finally in Paris where he was influenced by the work of Jean-Léon Gérôme and of Ludwig Deutsch, who had settled in Paris in 1878. The parallels between the work of the latter and that of von Ambros are striking not only in the application of colour and in technique, but also in the choice of subject.