Gustave Achille Guillaumet, French, 1840-1887
Title: Women in an Eastern Courtyard
Date: 1860-1865
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
104 x 73 cm
Signed: lower left: G Guillaumet
Credit Line: Presented, Sir Alfred Chester Beatty, 1950
Object Number: NGI.4235
Exhibition HistoryFrench 19th and 20th Century Paintings from the National Gallery of Ireland: Corot to Picasso, Daimaru Museum, Tokyo, 5 September-17 September 1996; Daimaru Museum, Kyoto, 10 October-22 October 1996; Kawaguchiko Museum of Art, Yamanashi, 26 October-2 December 1996; Daimaru Museum, Umeda,Osaka, 22 January-9 February 1997; Aomori Municpal Gallery of Art, Aomori, 2 April-20 April 1997
Chester Beatty: The Paintings, Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, 7 September 2012 - 31 August 2013; The Hunt Museum, Limerick, 1 February - 30 March 2014
Chester Beatty: The Paintings, Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, 7 September 2012 - 31 August 2013; The Hunt Museum, Limerick, 1 February - 30 March 2014
Label TextGuillaumet was an Orientalist artist. He made many visits to North Africa and specialised in landscapes depicting desert tribes. This picture is not typical of his work. The artist most likely painted it from studies made in Algeria. It shows a maidservant applying eye makeup to a young girl as they sit in a courtyard. Natural light floods the scene from above but the shady passageways, shutters and window carvings suggest that this is a privileged glimpse of a private domestic space. The architecture, furnishings, costumes, and accessories demonstrate the artist’s fascination with Eastern art and culture.