Gaspard De Toursky (1849-1925) Camel Caravan Desert

Orientalist painting oil on canvas signed lower right G. De Toursky 1908 Russian Orientalist painter -Gaspard de TOURSKY- born in Saint-Petersburg (1849-1925) Scene of a caravan crossing the desert, the work is presented in an old molded mahogany frame with gilded threads. Dimensions: 51 cm X 38 cm / visible 43 cm X 30 cm. Gaspard de Toursky was born in Saint-Petersburg, he trained with Valentin Serov specialized in icons, representations of holy figures in the Christian religion. It was from the age of fifteen that Gaspard began to take traditional painting lessons. Passionate about painting, he joined the Saint-Petersburg academy, founded in 1757. Seduced by North Africa, he liked to represent its inhabitants and its light. Most of his work is part of the 19th-century Orientalism movement. In 1908, he exhibited all his works from his travels in North Africa in Paris. He then decided to settle in Souk Ahras, Algeria, to lead a peaceful life, exhibiting his paintings in 1917 and then in Algeria in 1923. In the great book of important personalities of Souk Ahras lies the captivating story of the famous painter, Gaspard de Toursky, whose Muslim name was Sidi Labiad El Sayed. Like Etienne Dinet in Boussaada, he embodied a symbiosis between art and the soul of this city. Of Russian descent, Gaspard arrived in Souk Ahras in 1881, accompanied by the renowned French writer Alphonse Daudet, seeking his talent to illustrate the famous novel Tartarin de Tarascon. Enthralled by the natural splendor and opulent wildlife of Souk Ahras, he made it his permanent home. A passionate lover of hunting, he quickly became a fervent protector of the Ahras countryside, even striving to preserve the region's last remaining lions by establishing a modest zoo in Ain Tahmamine. Closely affiliated with the Muslim community of Souk Ahras, Gaspard embraced Islam in 1918, an act that some biographers argue had more of a political than a religious dimension. Gaspard aspired to blend into the Muslim social fabric, firmly disapproving of the abuses of colonial France in Algeria. In 1905, his iconic painting, "The Insurgents of Souk Ahras," awarded a gold medal at the Paris International Fair and later renamed "Fantasia," had to undergo a name change imposed by France at the time in order to be exhibited. Gaspard's prolific oeuvre included more than 350 paintings, many celebrating the life, nature, and wildlife of Souk Ahras. He breathed his last in this city on June 15, 1925, resting forever in the Muslim cemetery under the name Abdelrahman Labied, alias El Sayed.