Before a Mosque (Cairo)

Oriental subjects occupied a significant place in Romantic art of the first half of the 19th century. Decamps was one of the first French artists to travel through the countries of the East. In 1828 he visited North Africa and Asia Minor, from where he brought back numerous studies which he then used throughout his life in creating landscapes and genre paintings. Before a Mosque is a typical example of his orientalizing works, with its sharp contrasts of light and shade and generalized treatment of the figures.