
Deborah Cliffe
Senior Sale Coordinator
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£20,000 - £30,000
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Senior Sale Coordinator
Ettore Simonetti was one of the most accomplished of a group of Italian Orientalist artists who worked primarily in watercolour. These included Enrico Tarenghi (1848-1938), Giuseppe Aureli (1858-1929) and Giulio Rossati (1858-1917). Many of these artists, including Simonetti, never visited the countries they depicted, working instead from photographs.
In his enormous body of work Simonetti concentrated on the customs of the Middle East which made the region so intriguing to a Western audience. He specialised in vibrant, highly detailed and technically masterful scenes such as the present lot. Simonetti relied upon an array of artefacts including carpets, tiles, brass work and Oriental costumes which were sent back to Europe by the crate load and used by artists as aide-memoirs. For instance, smoking the Nargile as represented in this composition, was fashionable especially in Turkey, and the status of a hostess was often determined by the Nargile she offered to her guests.