Footnotes

Franz Xavier Kosler, born in Vienna in 1864, was one of the most celebrated Orientalist painters of his generation. Kosler began his artistic studies at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste (The Academy of Fine Arts) in Vienna, studying under the renowned Austrian Orientalist artist Leopold Carl Müller. Highly influenced by his work Kosler went on to follow in his tutor's footsteps travelling abroad to paint the Near East firsthand, depicting richly coloured genre scenes and tender close-up portraits of young sitters dressed in traditional clothing, echoing the work of his mentor. Setting off in 1886, Kosler travelled to Dalmatia, Montenegro, Albania and Egypt, returning to the latter two years after he had returned to Vienna in 1866, sponsored by Archduke Ferdinand Karl.

In Egypt he opened a one-man exhibition in Cairo in 1894. The show was a great success and secured Kosler many wealthy Egyptian clients including Prince Said Halim Pasha, the grandson of Mehemet Ali Pasha, the future Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire, who commissioned a series of portraits from the artist. Kosler's portrait commissions were not limited to Egyptian society. He also painted the Archduke Ferdinand Karl in Vienna and other wealthy individuals, such as Countess Palfy-Schilippenback who sat for the artist in 1896. Whilst in Egypt Kosler made acquaintances with a number of influential European art collectors. These connections encouraged Kosler to exhibit at the Glass Palace in Munich in 1899 and at the Royal Academy in London, where he exhibited The Blind Beggar and Vegetable Sellers, Cairo in 1903. Kosler also found fame in his home country regularly exhibiting in the Viennese salons from 1895, becoming a member of the Society of Artist Painters a few years later in 1901.

Kosler is best known for his intricately detailed works such as Camel Market in Cairo 1889, in the Oberösterreichisches Landesmuseum collection in Linz, however his more delicate portraits also display an ability to capture emotion. Nada, jeune Beduin, Sinai shows the subject in traditional head dress with only the face visible, beautifully framed by the folded drapery. Kosler often captures his sitters in profile or modestly glancing down, this portrait captures a young Bedouin girl staring straight out at us, with beautiful almond eyes. Nada in Arabic refers to the dew in the morning.