Eugene Joseph Verboeckhoven
(Warneton 1798 – Schaerbeek 1881)
Portrait of an oriental man
Signed with initials and dated 1843 ll
Oil on canvas, 86.9 x 80.1 cm
Provenance:
Private collection, Belgium
NB:
Verboeckhoven is world-renowned for his talented portraits and paintings of animals. Although the oriental man depicted here might suggest Verboeckhoven traveled to the East, the artist worked from his studio. In all likelihood he made use of one of the professional eastern models of the time who traveled through Europe and visited the academies. A comparable work by his hand is Portrait of a Dignitary, possibly Ibrahim Pacha dating from 1848. Nicaise de Keyser (1813-1887), renowned for his orientalistic portraits, also made use of itinerent models.