Eugène Fromentin, 'The Banks of the Nile', 1874
About the work
Overview
Eugène Fromentin (1820–1876) was a French painter who specialised in scenes of life in North Africa. He travelled there several times during his career, storing up a stock of images that he could turn into pictures to satisfy the French taste for oriental subjects. The Banks of the Nile of 1874 was painted five years after he had visited Egypt to witness the opening of the Suez Canal.
It is a poetic image of river life: a gentle breeze pushes a felucca along while other small boats ply their trade and Arabs chat on the river bank. Fromentin gave this everyday scene a familiar air by using the techniques of Dutch Golden Age maritime painters such as Willem van de Velde, father and son, who had painted Dutch ships in moments of sunlit calm. Fromentin shows that the life of the river is the same the world over.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- The Banks of the Nile
- Artist
- Eugène Fromentin
- Artist dates
- 1820 - 1876
- Date made
- 1874
- Medium and support
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 54 × 78.7 cm
- Inscription summary
- Signed; Dated
- Acquisition credit
- Presented by Roland F. Knoedler to the Tate Gallery, 1920; transferred, 1956
- Inventory number
- NG3511
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
Provenance
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Martin Davies, with additions and some revisions by Cecil Gould, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: French School: Early 19th Century, Impressionists, Post-Impressionists, etc.’, London 1970; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Bibliography
-
1957Martin Davies, National Gallery Catalogues: French School, 2nd edn (revised), London 1957
-
1970Davies, Martin, and Cecil Gould, National Gallery Catalogues: French School: Early 19th Century, Impressionists, Post-Impressionists etc., London 1970
-
2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
About this record
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