A Tunisian Bird-Seller, by John Evan Hodgson (1831-1895). 1873. Oil on panel. 16 x 11 ¾ inches (40.6 x 30 cm). Private collection. Image courtesy of Sotheby's.
This work was shown at the Royal Academy in 1873, no. 894, the same year Hodgson was finally elected an Associate of that august organization. It features an Arab or Berber man sitting on a bench with his back resting on a wooden wall, smoking a long-stemmed pipe, and looking contemplatively upwards. He is surrounded by dead birds that he intends to sell, presumably shot with the musket standing to his right.
The painting was not extensively reviewed when it was exhibited at the Royal Academy, presumably because the critics preferred to concentrate on Hodgson's Jack Ashore, his major exhibit of that year. The Architect, however, in commenting on Hodgson's election to the Royal Academy, called A Tunisian Bird-Seller, "a charming little picture of a Tunisian bird-seller, brightly and charmingly finished" (83). F. G. Stephens in The Athenaeum barely touched on it, calling the picture, "A seller of birds'-skins and other curiosities" (23). It again shows the influence of French Orientalist painters much more so than his British contemporaries
Details of the Painting
Bibliography
Juler, Caroline. Najd Collection of Orientalist Paintings, London: Mathaf Gallery, 1991. See p. 172.
The Orientalist Sale including Works from the Najd Collection. London: Sotheby's (30 March 2021): lot 12.
"Royal Academy." The Architect IX (15 February 1873): 83.
Stephens, Frederick George. "Fine-Art Gossip." The Athenaeum No. 2358 (4 January 1873): 23-24.
Created 17 January 2024