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Portrait of Abram Jacob Messir

image courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art | CC0 1.0

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Date

1841

Artist

David Wilkie (1785-1841)

Collection

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Description

Wilkie, who reenergized British genre painting in the opening decades of the nineteenth century, was adept at capturing faces and attitudes. In 1841 he traveled to the Holy Land to seek new material and died unexpectedly at sea while returning to London. The present work belongs to a series of vivid portraits of Middle Eastern characters that represent the artist's culminating achievement as a draftsman. Executed in a distinctive palette reminiscent of Rubens's trois crayons manner but with modern watercolors added to invigorate the traditional chalks, it seems almost aglow with color. Bold watercolor washes, enlivened by white gouache, describe the ample figure of an Ottoman official, commandingly positioned to be seen slightly from below.
Wilkie typically made such drawings in pairs–intending one for the sitter and the other for himself. A journal entry made in Smyrna (modern Izmir, Turkey) indicates that he began the commission on January 27, 1841, while an inscription at the bottom right of this sheet indicates its completion two days later. The Metropolitan's version of the portrait was likely that selected by the sitter, with its counterpart, retained by Wilkie, is now in the Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford.

Image Licence

CC0 1.0

Image Credit

image courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Location

Izmir, Turkey

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© 2024 Watercolour World | Technology by The Museum Platform

© 2024 Watercolour World | Technology by The Museum Platform