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Alberto Pasini
Italian, 1826-1899
Arab Oasis, 1875
Signed A. Pasini and dated 1875 (ll)
Oil on canvas
28 3/4 x 23 7/8 inches (73 x 60.8 cm)

Provenance:
Arthur Tooth & Sons, New York, no. 40498
Purchased from the above by the Honorable Hugh J. Grant, February 21, 1901
Thence by descent in the family to the present owner

Alberto Pasini was born near Parma, where he studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts before moving to Paris in 1851. There, he worked in the studio of Th‚o dore Chass‚riau, and also made the acquaintance of a number of French artists, including EugŠne Fromentin, Jules Dupr‚ and Th‚odore Rousseau, who strongly influenced the development of his meticulous technique.

In 1855, recommended by Chass‚riau, Pasini was asked to accompany and document a French diplomatic mission to Persia. This expedition, which took him not only to Persia, but also to Egypt, Turkey, and the Arabian Peninsula, was a turning point for the young artist. The sights and sounds of the regions he had visited led him to embark on a career as a painter of Middle Eastern subjects. The 1855 trip would be the first of many, not only to the Middle East, but to Greece, Spain and Armenia as well, expanding Pasini's repertoire to include scenes of everyday life in those countries as well.

Orientalist painting was in great vogue throughout Europe in the 1850s and Pasini quickly enjoyed great success. One reason for his popularity was the remarkable sense of verisimilitude that his paintings convey. While many of his contemporaries composed their works in the studio using written descriptions, book illustrations, and artfully arranged props, Pasini drew on his voluminous sketchbooks and myriad firsthand experiences, which give his paintings an unmistakable ring of authenticity.

Pasini's technique combines careful draftsmanship, subtlety of color, and above all, an uncanny exactitude of descriptive detail. His views of Middle Eastern courtyards, markets, and mosques are almost miraculous evocations of polished surfaces-marble inlays, metalwork, glazed ceramic-contrasted with the coarser textures of leather, wool cloth, wood and rough stone. An Arab Encampment is a classic example of Pasini's treatment of a desert subject, with its wonderfully acute depiction of the rugged cliffs, the mist rising above the water, the c oarse robes of the men, and the shiny coats of the horses.