Details

Provenance

Sale: Christie's, London, 18 March 1983, lot 74 Mathaf Gallery, London Purchased from the above

Literature

Caroline Juler, Najd Collection of Orientalist Paintings , London, 1991, p. 88, cited, p. 101, catalogued & illustrated Catalogue note Born in Vienna in 1854, Rudolf Ernst received his early training under Anselm Feuerbach at the Vienna Academy, of which his painter-architect father, Leopold Ernst, was also a member. Ernst travelled to Rome and, in the 1880s, to Spain, Morocco, and Tunisia. Later travels would take him to Egypt and, in 1890, to Turkey. In 1876, Ernst settled in France, exhibiting regularly at the Salon de la Société des artistes français and eventually taking French nationality. After starting out painting portraits and genre scenes, from 1885 Ernst turned exclusively to painting Orientalist subjects, which he worked up from the sketches, photographs, souvenirs, and memories accumulated during his travels. A large number of works were executed in his studio in Paris at 25 rue Humboldt , which he decorated in an eclectic Eastern style, and in which he would paint wearing a taboosh, the better to transport himself mentally into the world created in his canvases. He would remain there until he moved to Fontenay-aux-Roses early in the twentieth century.

Catalog summary

Property from the Najd Collection Rudolf Ernst Austrian 1854 - 1932 A Refreshing Drink signed R. Ernst. lower left; with a hand-written inscription R Ernst / Paris 25 rue Humboldt on remnants of a label on the stretcher oil on panel Unframed: 58 by 28cm., 22¾ by 11in. Framed: 101 by 71cm., 39¾ by 28in. Provenance Sale: Christie's, London, 18 March 1983, lot 74 Mathaf Gallery, London Purchased from the above Literature Caroline Juler, Najd Collection of Orientalist Paintings , London, 1991, p. 88, cited, p. 101, catalogued & illustrated Catalogue note Born in Vienna in 1854, Rudolf Ernst received his early training under Anselm Feuerbach at the Vienna Academy, of which his painter-architect father, Leopold Ernst, was also a member. Ernst travelled to Rome and, in the 1880s, to Spain, Morocco, and Tunisia. Later travels would take him to Egypt and, in 1890, to Turkey. In 1876, Ernst settled in France, exhibiting regularly at the Salon de la Société des artistes français and eventually taking French nationality. After starting out painting portraits and genre scenes, from 1885 Ernst turned exclusively to painting Orientalist subjects, which he worked up from the sketches, photographs, souvenirs, and memories accumulated during his travels. A large number of works were executed in his studio in Paris at 25 rue Humboldt , which he decorated in an eclectic Eastern style, and in which he would paint wearing a taboosh, the better to transport himself mentally into the world created in his canvases. He would remain there until he moved to Fontenay-aux-Roses early in the twentieth century.