Lot 86: - Arthur von Ferraris , Hungarian 1856-1936 the learned man of cairo oil on panel

signed and dated Arthur Ferraris . le Caire 1888 lower left oil on panel

46 by 36cm., 18 by 14in.

Acquired by the family of the present owner circa 1940; thence by descent

PROPERTY OF AN AMERICAN PRIVATE COLLECTOR
The allure of the East captivated Ferraris' imagination. Indeed, the Orient was a major preoccupation among nineteenth-century artists. Ferraris approached the subject with fervour and admiration, and his oeuvre is testament to this preoccupation. While many nineteenth-century artists remained armchair Orientalists, depicting an imaginary Orient and reaping the benefits of public demand for such work, others travelled extensively to the Near, Middle and Far East and thereby greatly expanded their pictorial vocabulary. While the extent of Ferrari's travels is not known, his subject matter suggests that he visited Egypt, Turkey and North Africa.

Reading the Koran epitomizes Ferraris' academic compositions of the Near East. The painstaking attention devoted to the depiction of exotic features, such as the Iznic tiles in the background and the vibrantly coloured robe of the seated man, clearly show the influence of earlier Salon Orientalists, above all Ferraris' teacher, Jean-Léon Gérôme. Gérôme, an extraordinary master of the genre, travelled to the East no less than seven times, and taught generations of artists how best to document the vivid colours and strong light, architecture, customs and costumes of the Orient.

It may have been Gérôme who encouraged Ferraris to travel to Cairo - the setting for the present work - and to adopt a similar, polished realist style. Ferraris travelled to Cairo in the winter of 1885 in the company of his friend and fellow Orientalist painter par excellence Ludwig Deutsch. It is likely that Deutsch's many depictions of daily life in Egypt had some influence on Ferraris choice of subject matter. Indeed, images of Cairo and its inhabitants were to become Ferraris' most celebrated and sought after compositions (fig. 1).

Reading the Koran exemplifies Ferraris' masterful rendering of exacting photographic detail, where one can discern each crease in the fabric and perceive every individual crack to the wall tiles. The vivid colours and textures are electrifying and the powerful diffused light engenders an overall glow to the painting. The attention Ferraris paid to detail and the virtuosity of his brushwork is particularly evident in the depiction of the seated man and the minutely rendered architectural detail of the interior. Nonetheless, the setting of the present work is humble: the tiled wall in the background is crumbling and the only visible furnishings are the wooden chair and rug the man is seated on. This absence of accoutrements serves to highlight the quiet, spiritual and meditative atmosphere of Reading the Koran.

Fig. 1: Arthur von Ferraris, Driving a Bargain, Cairo, sold: Sotheby's, New York, 18 April 2008, lot 174
Digi ref: 396D08101