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Source Description
Although Clairin based the architecture and costumes in this painting on observed reality, the painting is very much a work of historical fiction. Clairin imagines a sheik in billowing robes about to enter to his harem—a woman pulls aside the curtain to give the viewer a glimpse of the space beyond. The elaborately inlaid door and the honeycombed vaulting of the architecture recall the Hall of the Two Sisters at the Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain.In the late 19th century, Clairin was a prominent painter of Islamic subjects, portraits, and murals. He traveled to Spain and Morocco in 1868, and, in 1871, he returned to Morocco for a year and a half. Drawing on these experiences, he created dramatic, quasi-historical scenes set in 15th-century Moorish Spain.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
35600
label
Entering the Harem
core
obj
dtoType
drawing
citationUrl
pageCount
2
Source metadata
id
35600
sourceUrl
contentType
drawing
stage
normalized
title
Entering the Harem
description
Although Clairin based the architecture and costumes in this painting on observed reality, the painting is very much a work of historical fiction. Clairin imagines a sheik in billowing robes about to enter to his harem—a woman pulls aside the curtain to give the viewer a glimpse of the space beyond. The elaborately inlaid door and the honeycombed vaulting of the architecture recall the Hall of the Two Sisters at the Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain.In the late 19th century, Clairin was a prominent painter of Islamic subjects, portraits, and murals. He traveled to Spain and Morocco in 1868, and, in 1871, he returned to Morocco for a year and a half. Drawing on these experiences, he created dramatic, quasi-historical scenes set in 15th-century Moorish Spain.
provenance
John Wolfe [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Sale [from Catalogue of Mr. John Wolfe's Gallery of Valuable Paintings], New York, April 5- 6, 1882, no. 16; William T. Walters, Baltimore, 1882, by purchase; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1894, by inheritance; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
date
ca. 1870
citationUrl
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
Painting & Drawing
oil paintings (visual works)
imageCount
2
pageCount
2
source
import
dimensions
units
cm
width
81.9
height
65
dimensionsRaw
H: 32 1/4 x W: 25 9/16 in. (81.9 x 65 cm); Framed H: 46 5/16 x W: 39 3/4 x D: 7 1/2 in. (117.63 x 100.97 x 19.05 cm)
Source extras
inscriptions
[Signature] Below in center: G. Clairin
med
oil on canvas
creator_ids
5866
collection_ids
EAN
exhibition_ids
507
2159
2204
2706
2481
3257
3300
Page inventory
seq
1
type
photo
mediaId
131ae6e89e886054
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
2
type
photo
mediaId
f32d2017c3c4e36f
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no