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PROPERTY FROM A BRITISH PRIVATE COLLECTION

THE PRESENTATION

THE PRESENTATION

65 by 45.5cm., 25½ by 18in.

signed R. Ernst l.l.

oil on panel

PROVENANCE

Acquired by the parents of the present owner circa 1950; thence by descent

NOTE

As well as the the landscape, the heat, the colours and the rich and vibrant mix of life that attracted tourists and painters to the Middle East in the nineteenth century, Westerners were also drawn into this new and exotic world by the formality of the culture and the elaborate art of ceremony that shaped virtually every aspect of daily life there. More than any other painter of the period it was Ernst who took most interest in these often small but nonetheless significant quotidien rituals.

In the present work it is evident from the nature of the item being presented - a sword - that the occasion is important, while the relative hierarchy between the two men is plain from their postures, their different positions on the steps up to the front door of the house and the relative richness of the draperies worn by them.

Yet to a Western eye as well (and it was for a Western clientel that the work was painted), Ernst also evokes a comfortingly bourgeois image of Middle Eastern life. Although grand, the architectural setting is domestic rather than palatial, and he paints the master of the house as wealthy rather than necessarily princely. Thus without losing the drama and the edge that so clearly came from experiencing the region at first hand, he presented to his prospective audience, most of whom had and never would visit themselves, a reassuringly familiar set of values, albeit wrapped in trappings distinct to the area. In the process, Ernst references all the elements that collectors required in such a work: the richly decorated ceramic tiles, the carpet, the marble and intricately carved window and door.