Holger Hvidtfeldt Jerichau

HOLGER HVIDTFELDT JERICHAU (Copenhagen, 1861-1900).
"Orientalist scene".
Oil on canvas.
Signed in the lower left corner.
Measurements: 39 x 69 cm; 52 x 81 x 6 cm (frame).
Scene of realistic aesthetics where the artist presents us with a panoramic view starring a group of men riding camels, which is located on a road that ends in an imposing mosque. Orientalism was born in the 19th century as a consequence of the romantic spirit of escape in time and space. The first orientalists sought to reflect the lost, the unattainable, in a dramatic journey destined from the beginning to failure. Like Flaubert in "Salambo", painters painted detailed portraits of the Orient and imagined pasts, recreated to the millimeter but ultimately unknown and idealized. During the second half of the 19th century, however, many of the painters who traveled to the Middle East in search of this invented reality discovered a different and new country, which stood out with its peculiarities above the clichés and prejudices of Europeans. Thus, this new orientalist school leaves behind the beautiful odalisques, the harems and the slave markets to paint nothing but what they see, the real Orient in all its daily dimension.
Holger Hvidtfeldt Jerichau was a Danish landscape painter, brother of Harald Jerichau, also a painter of the same genre and son of the sculptor Jens Adolf Jerichau and his wife, the painter Elisabeth Jerichau. At first he was apprenticed to a merchant in Germany and Italy, but showed little aptitude for that career. He therefore chose to follow in his parents' footsteps. He received most of his training from his mother, but also studied with tutors abroad. He never attended art school. From 1884 he exhibited landscapes with Italian motifs. He lived abroad most of his life, mainly in Italy, but also in southern Russia and Asia, including a year in India (1893-94). Most of his Danish landscapes date from 1885 and 1886, when he lived near Hørsholm. Much of his work has been interpreted today as oriented to satisfy the tastes of a broad public, with an accessible and decorative intent. Although he resided and traveled in culturally rich regions, his subjects often reflect simple choices and restrained palette colors, prioritizing a clear and direct aesthetic over a deeper conceptual quest.