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PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION

THE ROSE HARVEST

72 by 92cm., 28¼ by 36¼in.

signed R. Ernst l.r.

oil on panel

PROVENANCE

Sale: Sotheby's, London, 24 March 1982, lot 131

LITERATURE

Philippe Jullian, The Orientalists, Fribourg, 1977, p. 70, illustrated

NOTE

The Rose Harvest evokes an idyll of peace and tranquility on the banks of the Nile. A girl enters the room carrying a basket of roses. Her companions inside pluck the petals and place them in an urn, ready for crushing to extract the aromatic essence used for making perfume. The luxuriant and plentiful blossom, whose scent is almost palpable, the azur blue sky and bright desert glimpsed through the doorway, the colourful tiles and rug, and the glass and earthenware lend the painting an unspoken sensuality and exotic atmosphere.

Like many of Ernst's best works, The Rose Harvest represents an idealised imaginary Orient, although its component elements are minutely observed, based on sketches made in the field, or props brought back from his travels. Ernst decorated his Paris studio in an eclectic 'Eastern' style, in which he would paint wearing a tarboosh, the better to re-live his experiences in the East, and where he was often sought out by collectors eager to acquire his highly finished pictures.