Creative Commons License
The Slipper Merchant
(18th and 19th Centuries )
In the dimly lit, richly colored interior of a North African shop, a turbaned merchant serves a customer seated on a divan. Kneeling in front is an attendant, and barely discernible in the background is a craftsman at work. To the left, a man smokes a hookah. Villegas has adopted a subject made popular by Mariano Fortuny, but rather than exploring light effects, he provides an almost overwhelmingly detailed array of bric-a-brac. Even the picture frame, custom-ordered for this painting, is inscribed in Naskh script: "There is no God but Allah and Mohammed is his Prophet."
Inscription
Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.
William T. Blodgett Sale, New York, 1876, no. 60; purchased by William T. Walters, Baltimore, 1876; inherited by Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1894; by bequest to Walters Art Museum, 1931.
Exhibitions
| 2014-2016 | From Rye to Raphael: The Walters Story. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. |
| 2014-2015 | Marvels and Mirages of Orientalism: Benjamin-Constant and His Time. The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal. |
| 2010-2011 | L'Orientalisme, de Delacroix a Kandinsky. Musees royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels; Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung, Munich; Musée des Beaux-Arts, Marseille, Marseille. |
Conservation
| Date | Description | Narrative |
|---|---|---|
| 6/1/1951 | Treatment | cleaned; coated |
| 3/11/1970 | Treatment | cleaned; coated |
| 10/24/1995 | Treatment | other |
| 1/1/2010 | Loan Consideration | examined for loan |
| 10/8/2010 | Examination | examined for exhibition |
Measurements
H: 19 x W: 25 9/16 in. (48.3 x 65 cm); Framed H: 36 1/8 × W: 42 3/4 × D: 5 1/4 in. (91.76 × 108.59 × 13.34 cm)
Credit Line
Acquired by William T. Walters, 1876
Location in Museum
Not on view
Accession Number
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
37.105
