Simoni The Marble Mosque 1879 {1904} NGV [WT]

Simoni, Gustavo (1846-1926; Italian)
The Marble Mosque 1879
Watercolour, 56.0 x 38.8 cm (sheet)
Bequest of Alfred Felton, 1904
National Gallery of Victoria (156-2)

As Gerard Vaughan observes, this exotic view, clearly reflecting 19^th-century Orientalist tastes, was rather less conventional than many of the other works in Felton’s collection.

The inscription, “G.Simoni.Tiemcen.79,” identifies the Algerian city where the work was made, also the setting for a number of the artist’s well-known harem images.

Refs.

AR 1904, p.26; NGV 1905, p.46 (II.Buvelot Gallery, no.36; ill.) 

For the comment by Gerard Vaughan, see Poynter (2003/2008), pp.151-2 (with references)

For the artist, see Bénézit 12, p.1248 (listing this work): and for other Simoni works set in Tiemcen, see e.g. http://www.artnet.com/artists/gustavo-simoni/musicians-in-a-courtyard-tlemcen-G-3f0Xj5PyaoqdjfFgps_w2 and http://artist.christies.com/Gustavo-Simoni–44671.aspx