Portrait Of A Young Man - Drawing By Léon Charles Vinit - 1846 - Orientalism

Student of Percier and the landscaper Rémond, Charles Léon Vinit (1806-1862) turned to painting after a trip to Italy and entered the School of Fine Arts (The second courtyard of the School is also the subject of his most famous painting). Vinit exhibited at the Salon between 1838 and 1852. He was above all a great orientalist painter. He stayed in Cairo for a long time in the 1840s, and our drawing is very likely a portrait of a young Cairene. His particular predilection for Egypt does not prevent Vinit from traveling to other Eastern countries. He painted in particular in Baghdad, then a flagship city of the Ottoman Empire. Our drawing is signed and dated June 1846. It is made with charcoal and stump.