Charles Edouard Edmond Delort: Abduction
A pupil of Gleyre and Gérôme at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, Charles Delort debuted at the Salon in 1864. He accompanied Gérôme to Egypt and returned to France via the Maghreb. The scenes of Algerian life inspired many of his artworks. He also enjoyed painting pastiches inspired by the eighteenth century, a vein displayed in the current painting, showing young women about to be sold as slaves to the port of Algiers. In the rear of the scene, the ladies’ husbands are seen as prisoners, still dressed in their costumes of the eighteenth century.
The painting was sold in 1890 with the following description: "Around 1750, noble families of Venice undertook a trip to the Aegean. Their ship was captured by Algerian pirates. Women and girls were sold as slaves. They are grouped on the quay of the port. A rich Mohammedan, wearing gold embroidered red velvet, arm in arm with a eunuch, examines them." [Sotheby’s]
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