Georges Clairin (Paris, 1843 – Le Pouldu, 1919)

“Arab chief”

Oil on canvas

Circa 1872

Signed : G Clairin

Dimensions: 103 x 74,5 cm (without frame) et 126 x 97,6 cm (with frame)

The Arab chief sits cross-legged, on the lookout, next to an ornate horse saddle and his dog at his feet. On the wall, on the rack, we discover three moukhala, these flintlock rifles from the North African region. Hidden among the fabrics and drapes, we can make out the sheath of a dagger and the pommel of a saber and, harnessed to the rack, the blue embroidered leather glâda, a ceremonial element of the horse’s neck, which can play the role of amulet to protect the animal from the bad. We can finally see, arranged on the third rifle, a cartridge belt and even lower a gourd.

Heir to the colorists Delacroix and Chassériau, influenced by the compositions of Jean Léon Gérôme, Henri Regnault and Marià Fortuny, his two best friends and traveling companions, with whom he shared a workshop in Tangier.

Our canvas can be compared to the painting at the Metropolitan Museum of New York: “The opium smokers”, 108 x 100.3 cm, oil on canvas from 1872

Provenance: First sale of the Atelier de Georges Clairin, Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, Monday February 2, 1902, n ° 61.