Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
Entering the Harem
(18th and 19th Centuries )
Although Clairin based the architecture and costumes in this painting on observed reality, the painting is very much a work of historical fiction. Clairin imagines a sheik in billowing robes about to enter to his harem—a woman pulls aside the curtain to give the viewer a glimpse of the space beyond. The elaborately inlaid door and the honeycombed vaulting of the architecture recall the Hall of the Two Sisters at the Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain.
In the late 19th century, Clairin was a prominent painter of Islamic subjects, portraits, and murals. He traveled to Spain and Morocco in 1868, and, in 1871, he returned to Morocco for a year and a half. Drawing on these experiences, he created dramatic, quasi-historical scenes set in 15th-century Moorish Spain.
Inscription
Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object. Learn more about provenance at the Walters.
John Wolfe [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Sale [from Catalogue of Mr. John Wolfe's Gallery of Valuable Paintings], New York, April 5- 6, 1882, no. 16; William T. Walters, Baltimore, 1882, by purchase; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1894, by inheritance; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
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. |
| 2002-2004 | A Magnificent Age: Masterpieces from the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore; The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City; Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte. |
| 1997-1998 | Orientalism: Delacroix to Klee. Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland. |
| 1987-1988 | The Orientalists. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. |
| 1982 | Orientalism: The Near East in French Painting 1800-1880. Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, Rochester; Neuberger Museum, Purchase. |
Conservation
| Date | Description | Narrative |
|---|---|---|
| 2/14/1938 | Treatment | examined for exhibition; cleaned; other |
| 10/2/1969 | Treatment | loss compensation; cleaned; coated; other |
| 1/17/1983 | Treatment | other |
| 6/1/1991 | Treatment | loss compensation; cleaned |
| 7/9/1991 | Treatment | other |
| 3/19/1996 | Examination | examined for condition |
| 1/1/2010 | Loan Consideration | examined for loan |
| 10/4/2010 | Examination | examined for exhibition |
Geographies
France (Place of Origin)
Measurements
H: 32 1/4 x W: 25 9/16 in. (81.9 x 65 cm); Framed H: 46 5/16 x W: 39 3/4 x D: 7 1/2 in. (117.63 x 100.97 x 19.05 cm)
Credit Line
Acquired by William T. Walters, 1882
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.
37.82