Édouard Frédéric Wilhelm Richter

(German, 1844-1913)

The favourite

Footnotes

Edouard Richter was born in Paris in 1844, and began his training at the Hague Academy of Fine Art. He then studied in Belgium, before returning to Paris to enrol at the Academie des Beaux-Arts under the tutelage of Ernest Hebert and Leon Bonnat. Between 1860-1870 his subjects tended to be portraits and genre scenes, however he showed an early interest in Orientalism as his 1866 submission to the Paris Salon was entitled Orientale à la Fontaine, Alger. In 1883 he became a permanent member of the Society of French Artists – a contemporary, Louis du Seigneur, noted his 'palette of precious gems'.

Upon moving more firmly into Orientalism, Richter's carefully conceived compositions were often sensual depictions of harems, and his work was characterised by precise architectural and ethnographic details. In the present lot the artist shows features of the Maure architecture of the Alhambra. This attention to detail can also be seen in the costumes of the seated women which resemble the Kat fabrics, as worn by noble society in Algeria at the end of the 19th century and have their origins in traditional Algerian Karabou art.

Opulent interiors such as this which define Richter's Orientalist period, were much admired by his Parisian contemporaries, in particular the Austrian and German artists who had settled in the French capitol such as Ludwig Deutsch and Rudolf Ernst.