Page of Jehuda and Tamar by VERNET, Horace in the Web Gallery of Art, a searchable image collection and database of European paintings and sculptures (1100-1850)

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Jehuda and Tamar

1840
Oil on canvas, 130 x 98 cm
Wallace Collection, London

In France Orientalism was closely bound up with the Romantic movement, the most important representatives of which were Delacroix and Gricault. Beside these outstanding figures the list of painters of oriental themes extends unbroken to the end of the century and beyond. They have become known as the Orientalists throughout Europe. Horace Vernet belongs to the early French Orientalists.

In Vernet's Jehuda and Tamar (representing a story taken from the Bible) Ingres' aestheticism is very evident in the rendering of the female body, in the beauty of line and the harmonious colouring. Generally, however, the artist has aimed for virtuosity in narrative detail and a meticulously faithful rendering of the textiles and accessories.