The Orientalist Sale including Works from the Najd Collection
The Orientalist Sale including Works from the Najd Collection
Property of a Gentleman
Alexandre Cabanel
Portrait of a North African
Lot Closed
March 30, 12:48 PM GMT
Estimate
20,000 - 30,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
Property of a Gentleman
Alexandre Cabanel
French
1823 - 1889
Portrait of a North African
signed and dated ALEX CABANEL / 1870 centre right and bears a later inscription upper right
oil on canvas
Unframed: 73 by 60cm., 28¾ by 23½in.
Framed: 85 by 71cm., 33½ by 28in.
Probably, Léon Comerre (the French painter, 1850-1916; based on an old label on the stretcher hand-inscribed Mohammed Ben Raba / par Cabanel / Léon Comerre / 67 rue Ampère)
Jean-Louis Picard, Paris (French commissaire-priseur; acquired in the 1970s); thence by descent
Jean-Louis Picard, Paris (French commissaire-priseur; acquired in the 1970s); thence by descent
The Alexandre Cabanel literature refers to a work titled Ben-Raba, prisonnier arabe à l'île Sainte-Marguerite, près Cannes. Painted in 1870, the work was sold in the artist’s estate sale as lot 10, with dimensions recorded as 65 by 38cm. Despite the differing dimensions, the subject, date and the hand-written label attached to the stretcher of the present work make a compelling case that they may well be one and the same.
Cabanel was staying in Cannes towards the end of 1870 and the prison on Île Sainte-Marguerite had been in operation since the seventeenth century. Notable inmates included the Man in the Iron Mask, Marquis Jouffroy d’Abbans and Abd al-Qadir al-Jaza'iri - an Algerian rebel leader.
Cabanel was staying in Cannes towards the end of 1870 and the prison on Île Sainte-Marguerite had been in operation since the seventeenth century. Notable inmates included the Man in the Iron Mask, Marquis Jouffroy d’Abbans and Abd al-Qadir al-Jaza'iri - an Algerian rebel leader.