Hermann Corrodi

Encampment is an evocative depiction of Bedouins taking rest in an oasis. A group sit in the shade, shepherds tend to their flocks in the distance and two men - one riding a donkey and one a horse - approach a stationary camel, whose body casts a long shadow on the sunlit desert ground. The painting exemplifies Corrodi's skill at observing the nuances of light, in this case the heat of midday, as well as his rigorous draughtsmanship founded on the principles of academic painting of the first half of the nineteenth century.

Corrodi, like his subjects, was something of a well-travelled nomad himself. Born in Frascati, he studied in Geneva, Rome and Paris, and travelled widely across Europe and the Middle East. In 1872 in London he was introduced to the Royal Family for whom he executed a number of works; before visiting Capri and exhibiting his work in Vienna. After marrying in 1876 he lived between Rome in the winter and Hamburg and Baden-Baden in the summer. In Germany, he secured commissions from the aristocracy and even the German Kaiser, who bought his Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem.