Lot 72: Ferencz Franz Eisenhut (HUNGARIAN, 1857-1903)

Ferencz Franz Eisenhut (HUNGARIAN, 1857-1903)
A Caravan outside of a Mosque
signed, inscribed and dated 'Eisenhut F. München 91' (lower right)
oil on panel
15½ x 23¾ in. (39.3 x 60.3 cm.)
Painted in 1891.

Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 16 November 1994, lot 84 (as An Arab Scene).
Acquired from the above sale by the present owner.

THE PROPERTY OF A CALIFORNIA COLLECTOR

Born in Nemet-Palanka in Serbia in 1857, Ferencz Franz Eisenhut is perhaps the most celebrated son of Palanka. Although his father wanted the young man to go into trade, Franz wished to become a painter and through the intercession of Karl Mezey, a prominent Palanka lawyer, and the with financial support of some of his neighbors, the young Eisenhut was sent to art school in Budapest, where he studied under Bertalan Szekely and Janos Greguss. From 1877 to 1884, the young artist studied at the Akademie in Munich first with Gyula Benczur and Ludwig Lofftz and later with Otto Seitz and Wilhelm Dietz.

After completing his academic studies in 1883, Eisenhut made his first trip to the Orient, and his journeys through the Caucasus, Turkey, Egypt, Syria and Tunisia became yearly events, The artist spent seven or eight months of the year traveling, returning to Munich with sheaves of sketches from his travels which he used as reference for finished paintings. By the age of thirty-three, Eisenhut was famous in his adopted homeland and eagerly sought-after by collectors and dealers. His work attracted the attention of Prince Regent Liutpold of Bavaria, as well as that of the Emperor, Franz Josef, who purchased a painting from the artist for the Throne Room in the royal palace in Budapest.

Caroline Williams has indicated that this scene takes place in North Africa based upon the style of the doorway and the liters on the camels. Under a clear blue sky, travelers and inhabitants gather outside the gates of a desert city. Eisenhut was partial to filling his canvases with a myriad of figures engaged in various activities, the result capturing the richness and variety of life in the Orient. In the bright sunlight, travelers arrive on camels, preceded by a shepherd with a herd of goats. Other travelers appear to step out of the picture plane, as if to ask to viewer to join the scene. To the left, the artist has drawn a sharp line of shadow, with figures sitting against the wall of the city, hoping for a cool spot. One excited figure shoots his rifle into the ground. The viewer can feel the heat and the cool shadows, hear the braying of the goats, the tread of the camels, the voices of the travelers and the single shot of a rifle. The colors are bright and sharply delineated and the richness of the tones and the details of the faces and costumes of the figures are executed with such precision and dexterity that it is clear that the artist was intimately familiar with all aspects of life in this part of the world.