Moor
1863. Oil on canvas.Not on display
Joaquín Domínguez Bécquer´s dedication to Orientalism was a consequence of the commission he was given by the Seville City Council to paint a picture alluding to the Moroccans´ request for peace in the recently ended war of 1859–60. The result of this commission was the trip he made to Morocco in 1863 in order to obtain the necessary information. It took him 10 years to finish the enormous painting. However, as a result of his trip, he produced some works on Moroccan themes, no doubt of the costumbrist genre. This standing Moor with a spikenard, which must have come from a drawing or sketch the artist took for the large painting of The Peace of Wad-Ras, as this same figure appears on the right-hand side of the painting, with the identical posture, even with the same colours of clothing. Besides, this oil painting also has all the environmental, chromatic and compositional characteristics of Romantic Orientalism.
Pérez Sánchez, Alfonso E., Pintura Orientalista Española 1830-1930, Madrid, Banco Exterior, 1988, p.68
