4x5 transparency scanned on Hasselblad Flextight X1 by Ed Pollard-2009.

Arab Falconer

Artist Eugène Fromentin (French, 1820-1876)

Date1863

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions42 x 27 3/4 in. (106.7 x 70.5 cm)
Overall, Frame: 49 1/4 x 35 x 3 in. (125.1 x 88.9 x 7.6 cm)

ClassificationsEuropean art

Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.

Object number71.648

Terms

Falcon
Horse
Man
Falconer
Blue
Brown
Tan
Orange
Green
White
Black
Orientalism
Romanticism

Collections

European Art before 1945

On View

On view

DescriptionThis is an oil on canvas painting. A man on a galloping horse is the center of the canvas. Three falcons, one on the man's head, one in his hand, and another flying above, but connected by a string, forms a diagonal line from the top right corner to the center of the canvas.

Label TextEugène Fromentin French, 1820–1876 Arab Falconer, 1863 Oil on canvas With a falcon in his raised arm, this Arab plainsman is a virtual extension of his muscled steed. Many Romantic artists of the day viewed Arab nomads as “noble savages” whose lives were tied to the rhythms of the natural world and free of the corruption of modern civilization. Following Napoleon’s Egyptian campaign (1798-99), the French public became fascinated with the Islamic east, spinning fantasies about its sensuous mysteries and untamed naturalism. Eugène Fromentin endorsed this Orientalist view, portraying the hunter as a creature completely at one with his wild steed and birds of prey. Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.648