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Lot Essay
Born in Paris into a Languedoc family descended from the politician Benjamin Constant de Rebeque, Constant trained in Toulouse at the local Academie before moving to Paris in 1866. He enrolled in the École des Beaux-Arts and completed his training under the Academic master Alexandre Cabanel. His studies were interrupted by the Franco-Prussian War and the young artist never resumed his formal training. Instead, in the early 1870s he traveled to Spain, and fell under the spell of the Mudejar architecture of Andalucia.
From Spain, Constant followed in the footsteps of Mario Fortuny and moved on to Morocco. Although he only intended to stay in North Africa for a short time, he remained and traveled around Morocco for almost two years. When he finally returned to France in 1873 he did so with a rich collection of Islamic artifacts. He filled his studio in the Pigalle district from floor to ceiling with tiles, jewelry, pottery and other treasures amassed on his travels. 'Carpets were hung on the walls, textiles swagged over balconies, plump, embroidered cushions lay on divans, providing the artist with an exotic background for his paintings, executed for over a decade following his journey' (L. Thornton, The Orientalists Painter-Travellers, 1828-1908, Paris, 1983, p. 166) (fig. 1). Constant's newly stocked studio was thus transformed into an elaborate stage set, elements of which appear throughout his oeuvre. He also drew from a rich roster of local beauties who modeled consistently for him. With every costume change, a new composition was formed; an even more idealistic notion or the East that fed the voracious Western appetite for images of these exotic lands and their people.
Set on a rooftop, An Afternoon Idyll depicts a late afternoon with a storm brewing over the distant sea. Four young women who have chosen to escape the afternoon heat with their musician and chaperone, sit indolently atop a stucco divan laid with rich tapestries in the open air on a rooftop. It is not clear whether they have come from a harem or simply their family home. All three women exude an air of indifference, perhaps instilled by the intense heat of a Moroccan afternoon symbolized by the overturned pot of geraniums at their feet. The broad expanses of cream and pink stucco are punctuated by the brightly clad figures languidly spread across them, while just below and in the background another figure leans over the balustrade looking out to the sea. The juxtaposition of the darkening skies against the bright blue of the sea and bright costumes of the young women brings out all the exotic colors, intense light effects and richness of texture that made the work of Constant so popular in his day.
(fig. 1) Benjamin Constant in his Studio. Contemporary photograph.
From Spain, Constant followed in the footsteps of Mario Fortuny and moved on to Morocco. Although he only intended to stay in North Africa for a short time, he remained and traveled around Morocco for almost two years. When he finally returned to France in 1873 he did so with a rich collection of Islamic artifacts. He filled his studio in the Pigalle district from floor to ceiling with tiles, jewelry, pottery and other treasures amassed on his travels. 'Carpets were hung on the walls, textiles swagged over balconies, plump, embroidered cushions lay on divans, providing the artist with an exotic background for his paintings, executed for over a decade following his journey' (L. Thornton, The Orientalists Painter-Travellers, 1828-1908, Paris, 1983, p. 166) (fig. 1). Constant's newly stocked studio was thus transformed into an elaborate stage set, elements of which appear throughout his oeuvre. He also drew from a rich roster of local beauties who modeled consistently for him. With every costume change, a new composition was formed; an even more idealistic notion or the East that fed the voracious Western appetite for images of these exotic lands and their people.
Set on a rooftop, An Afternoon Idyll depicts a late afternoon with a storm brewing over the distant sea. Four young women who have chosen to escape the afternoon heat with their musician and chaperone, sit indolently atop a stucco divan laid with rich tapestries in the open air on a rooftop. It is not clear whether they have come from a harem or simply their family home. All three women exude an air of indifference, perhaps instilled by the intense heat of a Moroccan afternoon symbolized by the overturned pot of geraniums at their feet. The broad expanses of cream and pink stucco are punctuated by the brightly clad figures languidly spread across them, while just below and in the background another figure leans over the balustrade looking out to the sea. The juxtaposition of the darkening skies against the bright blue of the sea and bright costumes of the young women brings out all the exotic colors, intense light effects and richness of texture that made the work of Constant so popular in his day.
(fig. 1) Benjamin Constant in his Studio. Contemporary photograph.