Thomas Sheard
Born 1866, England; died 1921
The Arab Blacksmith, c1900, oil on canvas
115cm x 163cm
Bendigo Art Gallery Collection, purchased 1903
115cm x 163cm
Photographer: Unknown
Visual description:
This painting of an outdoor scene focuses on three central male figures seated and working with handheld blacksmithing tools around a small open fire. the setting is a bright sandy desert area, rendered in warm yellow and white tones. Behind the men, a child stands watching their work, a baby strapped to the child’s back in a carrier.
Many other figures are dispersed across the background, some seated and others standing. A large tent structure is visible slightly right of centre, with fabric stretched across poles. Everyone is wearing wear loose, light-coloured garments and head coverings. The scene suggests a market or similar gathering space in the desert environment.
Curator’s insights:
Thomas Sheard was a highly regarded British academic painter specialising in landscapes, portraits and figurative works. He studied in Paris and exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy, London, and became Professor of Art at Queen’s College. It is believed that Sheard first visited Algeria in the mid-1890s; Sheard and many of his contemporaries were fascinated with North Africa and Egypt. The French-occupied territories of the region readily enabled expeditions by British and French artists in the late 19th century and the Orientalist movement which flourished in in 19th century European academies and societies of art catered to an exaggerated European imagination of an exotic ‘Orient’. The Arab Blacksmith is inspired by the artist’s observations in large market towns of semi-nomadic Arabic-speaking traders—perhaps Bedouin—although the accuracy of this depiction and the subjects’ identities are not clear.