Masterpiece of Orientalist Art to be Auctioned by Heritage in May

DALLAS, TX: An important monumental painting by Edwin Lord Weeks (1849-1903), one of the most celebrated American "Orientalist" painters of the late nineteenth century, is a featured work in Heritage's May Fine Arts auction. Based upon the artist's travels to India, The Hour of Prayer at Muti-Mushid (Pearl Mosque), Agra was awarded a Gold Medal at the 1889 Paris Salon. From the time it was sold by the artist's widow in 1905, the work has only had two owners-the Brooklyn Museum of Art (1905-1947) and a private American collection (1947-present). It is unlined and in its original nineteenth-century frame that includes ornamental motifs complementing those depicted in the painting and reflecting the work of the noted American enthusiast of Indian design and Tiffany partner, Lockwood de Forest II (1850 - 1932), whose studio Weeks visited in Ahmedabad, India.

Of all the Western "Orientalist" painters of his day, Edwin Lord Weeks produced the largest as well as the most compelling pictorial album of India. Unlike many artists, Weeks actually hazarded a visit to the country which at times was exceedingly arduous. In the travelogue of his journey published in 1896, Weeks described his visit to the Pearl Mosque, which resulted in this expansive scene measuring 79 x 118.5 inches: "The 'Moti Musjid,' or Pearl Mosque, which is seemingly restful from its appearance of extreme simplicity, artfully conceals beneath this exterior a great deal of studied proportion and elaborate detail. The broad court, when one enters it on a bright day, has the blinding dazzle of a snow-field, for nothing meets the eye but marble and the deep blue sky. Nothing could exceed the delicacy of color and subtle gradations of tint when the eye penetrates from the outer glare into the depths of shadow behind the arches. But, as in the Taj, there is no darkness in this shadow, and the details of the innermost wall are clearly visible from across the court."

Weeks's pictures are notable for their sensitivity to the rendering of brilliant sunlight as well as their architectural and topographical accuracy. The artist's atelier sale catalogue of 1905 describes this work as "most exquisite in its architectural features and the rich and pearly tones of its white marble. The graceful interior of the central court, all of the purest white, with its shimmering purplish shadow, seems to reveal all the extravagant fancy and lazy Luxuriousness of this land of sunshine." A student of the great French Romantic painter Jean Léon Gérôme, Weeks considered this painting one of his finest efforts. One hundred years after its initial exhibition in Paris, this work was chosen to represent Weeks in a major American exhibition, "Romance of the Taj Mahal," at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Toledo Museum of Art, and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in 1990.

In 1905 in New York, the artist's widow sold his studio effects as well as the paintings, drawings and studies at auction. The present work was purchased from the sale by a trustee of the Brooklyn Museum of Art, George D. Pratt for that museum's permanent collection. Pratt, a scion of the distinguished Pratt family whose fortune was linked to that of John D. Rockefeller and Standard Oil Company of America, was a discerning collector of contemporary American painting as well as an enthusiast of Persian and Indian art. His interest in Orientalism clearly manifested itself in the purchase of this painting by Edwin Weeks.

Weeks is represented in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C.; the Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York; the Joslyn Art Museum, Nebraska; and the Portland Museum of Art, Maine.

Heritage's Fine Art auction will be held live in Dallas, Texas, on Thursday and Friday, May 24 & 25, 2007. For more information, please visit www.HA.com/FineArt.

EDWIN LORD WEEKS (American, 1849-1903), The Hour of Prayer at Muti-Mushid (Pearl Mosque), Agra, circa 1889, oil on canvas (unlined) in original frame, 79 x 118.5 inches (205.7 x 299.7 cm)
ESTIMATE: $800,000 - $1,000,000

For more information about Heritage's auctions, and a complete record of prices realized, along with full-color, enlargeable photos of each lot, please visit www.HA.com.

Prospective consignors and sellers of fine and decorative arts are invited to www.HA.com/Sell. Or simply email FineArt@HA.com or call (800) 872-6467 extension 444.

To reserve your copy of any Heritage auction catalogue, please contact Customer Service at (800) 872-6467, extension 150, or visit www.HA.com/Catalog to order by email.