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Lot 638A: Saleh Ben Jaggia, Raden1811 Samarang (Java) - 1880 Buitenzorg Arab with his Horse.

Est: €20,000 EUR - €25,000 EUR
Van Ham KunstauktionenKöln (Cologne), GermanyMay 13, 2011

Item Overview

Description

Saleh Ben Jaggia, Raden
1811 Samarang (Java) - 1880 Buitenzorg

Arab with his Horse.
Signed lower right: Raden Saleh f. Oil on wood. 18 x 23cm. Framed.

Provenance:
Private collection, northern Germany.

Expertise:
Dr. Werner Kraus, Passau, March.

(...) "On Raden Saleh's arrival in 1839 in Dresden, he was soon made into the 'Javanese prince' by the public - a role he took on gladly and played convincingly. The consequence of this identity was the public expectation to paint 'oriental' paintings. Although this was contradictory to his existing artistic production, he recognised the economic potential of such a construction and reacted accordingly.(...)

Saleh's 'oriental' Dresden paintings can be categorised into three columns: 1. hunting- and battle scenes in an arabian setting, 2. arabian genre scenes, 3. hunting pictures from his home country Java. The painting of the mourning arab and his horse must be seen in the category 'arabian genre'.

The first 'arabianised' painting of Saleh was the Lion Hunt of 1840 which was on sale at Van Ham in 2005. More followed and became bestsellers in the repertoire of the painter. The 'Javanese hunting pictures' had similar success and are his most sought-after works today.

The situation, however, is a bit different with the 'arabian genre scenes'. They were painted in small, private formats and were not meant for the public. They appear neither in contemporary sources, nor in exhibition catalogues of the time. Yet they are not to be understood as sketches or studies. Often these tiny cabinet pieces are the most beautiful documents of the painter's technical skills.
These qualities can also be seen in our painting, for instance in the grass and plants of the foreground, or the bearded head of the Arab: everything is painted with tiny brushes strokes and the utmost sensibility. Exquisite as well is the expression of silent meditative mourning in the face and posture of the man. Here someone is sitting and is aghast about the death of a long-standing friend, immersed in the feeling of loss. As yet there is no sign of concern about his further travel through the inhospitable desert. His distress is the death of his friend, not his own survival, a feeling seldom to be found in the european oriental painting. The oriental Raden Saleh displays a different view to the constructed oriental in the desert. We see an emotional competent individual mourning a great loss, an oriental whose feeling is not that of a stranger.(...)

Concluding one might say: The picture of the mourning Arab in front of his dead horse is a work by Raden Saleh. The signature is original and typical. With geat certainty one may presume that it was painted in 1843 in Dresden as part of a series with similar contents. The execution of the foreground and the central figure is of impressive technical and artistic quality and turns the painting into a lovely and unusual cabinet piece by Raden Saleh."

Notes

[Translated from the expertise cited above.]

Auction Details

Fine Art

by
Van Ham Kunstauktionen
May 13, 2011, 10:00 AM CET

Hitzelerstr. 2, Köln (Cologne), NRW, 50968, DE