Page 65 - Orient Collection

26. THE MARABOUT (SACRED) LION, Algiers

Artist: Eugène PAVY, French, (1850 - 1905)
Execution date (approximate): 1883
Téchnique: Oil on Canvas, (signed lower lefht and date)
Measures: 89 x 155 cm.
Description: The Sacred Lion (Marabout), with his Dresser going through a surprised
crowd. A group of people surprised by the Lion and his trainer crossing the street in
Algiers. A “Marabout” is a Muslim spiritual leader.

Exhibitions
The Painting was exhibited at The Royal Academy of Arts London, Exhibition 1883, under
no. 82. A marabout (Arabic: مَربوط‎ marbūṭ or مُرابِط murābiṭ, “one who is attached/garrisoned”) is
a Muslim religious leader and teacher[1] in West Africa, and (historically) in the Maghreb.
Royal Academy of Arts in London, in 1878, 1879, 1881, 1883, Dictionary of Contributors and
their work from its foundation in 1769 to 1904,Vol. VI, p.82.

Publications
• London News, August 25, 1883 (reproduced)

Biography
Eugène PAVY, was the brother of Philippe Pavy, with whom he travelled to Tunisia, Algeria,
Morocco, and perhaps Egypt, in the 1870s and 1880s. He exhibited his paintings of Street
merchants, armed sentries, palace guards and souks in both Paris and London, where
he lived for a time. In London, from 1879 to 1884, he and his brother rented studios in
Langham Chambers, just off Portland Place, a building which housed other artists as well
as the Artists Society. Pavy sent two Orientalist paintings to the Royal Academy, whilst
eight works were shown at the Royal Society of British Artist and at the Grosvenor Gallery.
Three others, acquired in 1898, are at the Glasgow Art Gallery.

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