Orientalist school of the 19th century.

Orientalist school of the 19th century.
"The door of the souk".
Oil on canvas.
Signed "G. ROMAN" in the lower left corner.
Period frame.
Measurements: 100 x 72 cm; 132 x 106 cm (frame).

The painting is inscribed within the pictorial orientalism of the XIX century, a movement that fascinated the European public with exotic scenes coming from the trips and the imaginary one on the Middle East and the north of Africa. Far from being mere topographical views, these works responded to an aesthetic and cultural ideal that sought to transport the viewer to scenes charged with mystery, spirituality and a romantic sense of the distant.
The canvas offers a rich urban scene presided over by the monumentality of the mosque and its slender minaret, architectural elements that not only evoked the religious but also the cultural sophistication of the Islamic world. Everyday life unfolds around them: figures conversing, merchants and a camel crossing the street under an arch that reinforces the theatricality of the composition. The artist manages to balance the picturesque with the architectural majesty, conveying to today's collector the same sense of fascination that captivated the nineteenth-century public.

The work responds to the leitmotiv of Orientalism: the contrast between tradition and exoticism versus European modernity, materialized in labyrinthine streets, markets and monuments that stand as symbols of a culture that, to Western eyes, was enigmatic and attractive.
Pieces such as these were not only decorative, but constituted authentic windows to a distant world, capable of satisfying the desire for escape and adventure of the bourgeois society that acquired them. Today, they retain that evocative power, as well as being part of a genre in constant demand in international collecting.