Object Description
Orientalist portrait painting by Bridell-Fox, 1865
English, 1865
Canvas: Height 33cm, width 25cm
Frame: Height 49.5cm, width 42cm, depth 6cm
This intimate portrait depicts a seated Algerian woman. The subject looks to her left at something beyond the canvas, and her distant expression makes the viewer feel as if they have caught her in a genuine moment of preoccupation. The woman is dressed in white, flowing clothing, and she pulls a pink-toned blanket around herself. The remarkable intimacy of this muted scene differs from the lively ‘exoticism’ of many of the Orientalist paintings from this time.
The portrait is set within an exterior courtyard, with the curved archways and spiral columns evoking the Algerian architecture. In the foreground, a patterned fabric is draped, perhaps pointing to the woman’s profession.
The piece is rendered in a painterly manner that anticipates the Impressionist style. The muted colour palette is contrasted by small bursts of colour, such as the yellow flower behind her ear.
Enclosed in a highly decorative carved giltwood frame, the painting is signed and dated in the lower right ‘E. F. Bridell / Alger / 1865’. The artist Eliza Florence Bridell-Fox (1824–1903) is mostly known as a teacher to young female artists: she was the teacher of Laura Herford, who was the first female student to be accepted to the Royal Academy. This painting would have been executed on her long visit to Algeria following her husband’s death in 1862, and for this trip to be unchaperoned was highly unusual for a woman at the time. During her visit, she completed many portraits of both natives and visitors, like this portrait in the Mayfair Gallery collection.
Rendered with a delicate hand, this sensitive portrait would be an unusual addition to a collection of Orientalist antiques.