EDWIN LORD WEEKS | Rabat (The Red Gate)

Mrs Thomas B. Reed
A bequest from the above on 21 July 1914

University Art Galleries, University of New Hampshire, The Art of Edwin Lord Weeks (1849-1903), 1976, no. 4, illustrated in the catalogue

The Magazine Antiques, August 1985, illustrated

The canvas has not been lined and is securely attached to a keyed wooden stretcher. There are two very minor spots of paint flaking in the far upper left corner, as visible in the catalogue illustration, and some fine lines of drying craquelure in the white pigments of the tent to the right. Inspection under ultra-violet light reveals some very fine lines of strengthening in the black horse's legs and some pin-head sized spots closer to the left edge. Otherwise, this work is in virtually original condition and is ready to hang. Presented in a decorative gilt frame.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

This monumental view of the inner gate of the Kasbah of Oudaïas in Rabat was painted during Weeks' third trip to Morocco with his wife Frances Rollins Hale, taking in Tangier, Tetuan, and Rabat. His journey was extensively described in an article titled 'Two Centres of Moorish Art', which appeared in Scribner’s Magazine in 1901. In Rabat, Weeks became fascinated by the kasbah, a fortified citadel built in the twelfth century during the time of the Almohad Caliphate (AD 1121-1269). Having defeated the Almoravids and besieged the city of Rabat, the Almohads destroyed the old kasbah and began the construction of a new one in 1151 AD. Today, the ramparts and gates are amongst the few original parts of the kasbah, testament to the political and religious power of the Almohad Caliphate.

The gate was a spectacular example of highly-ornamented Almohad architecture, characterised by a horse-shoe arch and intertwined arabesques which conveyed elegance and grandeur. Morocco's imposing city gates formed the backdrop to several major French Orientalist works, including Eugène Delacroix's Moulay Abd-Er-Rahman, sultan du Maroc, sortant de son palais de Meknès (Musée des Augustins, Toulouse), or Benjamin-Constant's Les derniers rebelles (Musée d'Orsay).

An enthusiastic traveller, Weeks returned to Morocco in 1880, but subsequently ventured further east, to India, which became the subject of his later work.



The authenticity of this work had been confirmed by Dr Ellen K Morris.