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拍品專文
In 1854, Vincenzo Marinelli travelled to Alexandria in Egypt which had become home to many Italian Exilés. It was here that he befriended the Egyptologist Giuseppe Vassali, Inspector of Archaeological Excavations and Vice-Director of the Cairo Museum and was introduced to the great Ottoman Khedive, Sa’id Pasha, who had acceded to the throne that same year.
A refined and cultured man, educated in Paris, Sa’id Pasha was the first to grant an Act of Concession of land for the Suez Canal in1854. That same year, Marinelli accompanied the Ottoman Khedive on a nine-month long expedition in the Sudan, documenting and sketching in his notebooks the different places and the many cultural traditions he encountered. This voyage later took him to Palestine and Turkey, places that became the main inspiration for his future Orientalist works.
According to Monopoli in her catalogue entry, the present drawing is preparatory to the artist’s painting, La Grande carovana (whereabouts unknown) painted shortly after the artist returned from this trip. As is evident from Marinelli’s travel notebooks, the painting – and even more so the present drawing – must have been completed by 1869, pre-dating similar acclaimed works by Marinelli’s contemporaries, namely Flaminio Bozza’s La Carovana Quittan Le Caire (1872) and Stefano Ussi’s La partenza del Mahamal per la Mecca (1873).
Marinelli’s attention to detail in this work is remarkable; visible in his careful and realistic rendering of the clothes, spears and shields of the soldiers and the reins and saddles of the camels. There is also an oil sketch of this work (gouache and white lead on canvas), probably painted in Egypt between 1854 and 1859 (23 x 55cm Private Collection, Naples).
After the unification of Italy in 1860, Marinelli moved to Naples where he started a long series of historical paintings with Orientalist themes, namely Il ballo dell’ape nell’harem (acquired by the Prince Umberto di Savoia), Ricordo dell’Alto Egitto (View of High Egypt), Tratta delle schiave sul Mar Rosso (The Slave Route on the Red Sea) and Famiglia di beduini nomadi in viaggio (Travelling Family of Bedouins).
Invited by Saïd Pasha’s nephew and successor, Isma’il (known as ‘Ismail the Magnificent’ (1830 –1895)) to the Suez Canal inauguration ceremonies in November 1869, Marinelli returned once more to Egypt. Isma’il greatly modernized Egypt and the Sudan during his reign, investing heavily in industrial and economic development, urbanization, and the expansion of the country's boundaries in Africa. In 1867 he also secured Ottoman and international recognition for his title of Khedive (Viceroy) in preference to Wāli (Governor) which was previously used by his predecessors in the Ottoman Eyalet of Egypt and Sudan (1517–1867). In 1873, the Ottoman Sultan also recognized the full autonomy of Egypt from the government in Constantinople, giving official sanction to what had already been the actual state of affairs for some time. From a distance, it may seem rather trivial but these were important steps in maintaining peace between Ottoman Turkey and Egypt, achieving all but recognition of Egyptian independence on the part of Turkey while maintaining the country as a nominal part of the wider Ottoman Empire.
After his second sojourn to Egypt, Marinelli returned to Italy where he won a contest in 1875 to become Professor of Design at the Royal Institute of Fine Arts in Naples, and in 1881 and upon the death of Domenico Morelli, was named Professor of Painting at the Royal Institute. He taught from 1865 to 1887 at the Royal Educandato Femminile Regina Maria Pia. Among his celebrated works from this period is another canvas recollecting his trip to Sudan entitled Khedive Sa’id Pasha ordering the caravan to form. Once more, we find him returning to the same subject and imbuing it with the familiar figures and compositional elements visible in the present drawing.
A refined and cultured man, educated in Paris, Sa’id Pasha was the first to grant an Act of Concession of land for the Suez Canal in1854. That same year, Marinelli accompanied the Ottoman Khedive on a nine-month long expedition in the Sudan, documenting and sketching in his notebooks the different places and the many cultural traditions he encountered. This voyage later took him to Palestine and Turkey, places that became the main inspiration for his future Orientalist works.
According to Monopoli in her catalogue entry, the present drawing is preparatory to the artist’s painting, La Grande carovana (whereabouts unknown) painted shortly after the artist returned from this trip. As is evident from Marinelli’s travel notebooks, the painting – and even more so the present drawing – must have been completed by 1869, pre-dating similar acclaimed works by Marinelli’s contemporaries, namely Flaminio Bozza’s La Carovana Quittan Le Caire (1872) and Stefano Ussi’s La partenza del Mahamal per la Mecca (1873).
Marinelli’s attention to detail in this work is remarkable; visible in his careful and realistic rendering of the clothes, spears and shields of the soldiers and the reins and saddles of the camels. There is also an oil sketch of this work (gouache and white lead on canvas), probably painted in Egypt between 1854 and 1859 (23 x 55cm Private Collection, Naples).
After the unification of Italy in 1860, Marinelli moved to Naples where he started a long series of historical paintings with Orientalist themes, namely Il ballo dell’ape nell’harem (acquired by the Prince Umberto di Savoia), Ricordo dell’Alto Egitto (View of High Egypt), Tratta delle schiave sul Mar Rosso (The Slave Route on the Red Sea) and Famiglia di beduini nomadi in viaggio (Travelling Family of Bedouins).
Invited by Saïd Pasha’s nephew and successor, Isma’il (known as ‘Ismail the Magnificent’ (1830 –1895)) to the Suez Canal inauguration ceremonies in November 1869, Marinelli returned once more to Egypt. Isma’il greatly modernized Egypt and the Sudan during his reign, investing heavily in industrial and economic development, urbanization, and the expansion of the country's boundaries in Africa. In 1867 he also secured Ottoman and international recognition for his title of Khedive (Viceroy) in preference to Wāli (Governor) which was previously used by his predecessors in the Ottoman Eyalet of Egypt and Sudan (1517–1867). In 1873, the Ottoman Sultan also recognized the full autonomy of Egypt from the government in Constantinople, giving official sanction to what had already been the actual state of affairs for some time. From a distance, it may seem rather trivial but these were important steps in maintaining peace between Ottoman Turkey and Egypt, achieving all but recognition of Egyptian independence on the part of Turkey while maintaining the country as a nominal part of the wider Ottoman Empire.
After his second sojourn to Egypt, Marinelli returned to Italy where he won a contest in 1875 to become Professor of Design at the Royal Institute of Fine Arts in Naples, and in 1881 and upon the death of Domenico Morelli, was named Professor of Painting at the Royal Institute. He taught from 1865 to 1887 at the Royal Educandato Femminile Regina Maria Pia. Among his celebrated works from this period is another canvas recollecting his trip to Sudan entitled Khedive Sa’id Pasha ordering the caravan to form. Once more, we find him returning to the same subject and imbuing it with the familiar figures and compositional elements visible in the present drawing.