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Mosque of Sidi Bu Madyan, Tlemcen

S Fabrizi

1881

watercolor

From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum

Impressionism Orientalism Realism Late 19th Century

Dominant colour

Mosque of Sidi Bu Madyan, Tlemcen is a 1881 watercolor by S Fabrizi, a Impressionism work, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.

Who painted this?: S Fabrizi
When & what style?: 1881 · Impressionism
Where can I see it?: Victoria and Albert Museum

The story of this work

Overview

The watercolour depicts the Mosque of Sidi Bu Madyan in Tlemcen, constructed in 1339 by the Marinid dynasty adjacent to the shrine of the twelfth-century holy man Sidi Bu Madyan. It shows intricately carved stucco framing the horseshoe arches, with the tiled mihrab and wooden minbar visible through one arch. The scene captures worshippers performing personal supplications after formal prayers, their hands extended in a gesture of receiving divine blessing. The work reflects the Orientalist style of Italian artists active in Rome during the 1870s–80s, some of whom relied on photographs for…

Read the full account in the museum source.