An Egyptian Pot Seller at Gizeh

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Artist: Elisabeth Baumann (Danish, 1819–1881)
Medium: Oil on canvas
Size: 92 × 114 cm
Museum: SMK – National Gallery of Denmark
Rights: Public Domain Mark

One of Jerichau Baumann’s major works, this canvas distils observations made on travels in Turkey, Greece and Egypt in 1869–70 and 1874–75. Its sensuousness and bold colours are atypical of Danish art from the period, yet it has less of the pointed ethnocentrism that characterised international Orientalism at the time. The scene is rich in colour and contrast; the glorious hues of the rug catch the eye.

The nude body beneath sheer silk and the exotic jewellery add a sensuous quality that still impresses. Of Polish-German descent, Jerichau Baumann had a wider outlook than most Danish artists of the time. Alongside Martinus Rørbye, she made the most important Danish contributions to 19th-c. European Orientalism. The painting’s most recent owner, Birgit Pouplier, wrote books on Elisabeth Jerichau Baumann that proved instrumental for the artist’s recent revival.