Head of an Arab
ca. 1861
Medium
Charcoal and pastel
Dimensions
Sheet: 16 15/16 × 15 5/16 in. (43 × 38.9 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of Harvey Salzman, 2020
Accession Number
2022.25.20
Tags
Art Historical Context
Isidore Pils's *Head of an Arab*ca. 1861) captures the intense gaze of its subject in a striking portrait drawing, now housed in the Metropolitan Museum Art's Department of Drawings and Prints. intimate study reflects the mid-19th-century European in Orientalist themes, where artists like the French academic painter Pils explored exoticized depictions of Middle Eastern figures. Donated through the bequest of Harvey Salzman in 0, the work measures 16 15/16 × 15 5/16 inches, inviting viewers to appreciate its close-up focus on male portraiture. Rendered in charcoal and pastel on a large sheet, ...
About the Artist
Isidore Pils · 1813–1875
Isidore-Alexandre-Augustin Pils (1813/15–1875), born in Paris to the soldier François Pils, emerged as a leading French academic painter known for religious and military subjects. At age twelve, he studied under Guillaume Guillon-Lethière for four years before entering the École des Beaux-Arts in 1831 as a student of François-Édouard Picot. His talent secured the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1838 w...