Page 89 - Orient Collection

38. At the Door of The OMAYAD Mosque in DAMASCUS

Artist: Gustav BAUERNFEIND, German, (1848 - 1904)
Execution date (approximate): 1891
Téchnique: Watercolor on Cardboard, (signed lower left)
Measures: 50 x 38 cm.
Description: “Am Tore zur Grossen Moschee in Damaskus”.. It was difficult even dangerous
for the artists to work in the Holy City of Damascus, where thousands of pilgrims gathered
annually on their way to Mecca (Saudi Arabia). An old man resting at the Door of the
Omayad Mosque in Damascus-Syria. ” La porte de la Grande Mosqué à Damas”.

Publications
• Les Orientalistes peintres voyageurs de Lynne Thornton, ACR éditions, p.198.

Biography
After completing his architectural studies at the Polytechnic Institute in Stuttgart, Gustav
Bauernfeind worked in the architectural firm of Professor Wilhelm Bäumer and later in that
of Adolph Gnauth, where he also learned how to paint. In his earlier paintings, Bauernfeind
focused on local views of Germany, as well as motifs from Italy. During his journey to the
Levant from 1880 to 1882, he became interested in the Orient and repeated his travels
again and again. In 1896 he moved with his wife and son all the way to Palestine and
subsequently settled in Jerusalem in 1898. He also lived and worked in Lebanon and Syria.
His work is characterized primarily by architectural views of Jerusalem and the Holy
Land. The paintings of Bauernfeind are mostly meticulously crafted, intricately composed
and almost photographically accurate cityscapes and images of known sanctuaries in oil.
In addition, he produced landscape scenes and watercolours. During his lifetime he was
the most popular Orientalist painter of Germany, but soon fell into oblivion after his death.
At his birthplace in Sulz am Neckar, the life and work of the painter is commemorated by
the Gustav Bauernfeind Museum with a large permanent exhibition.

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