Artwork
View of Medinet El-Fayoum
View of Medinet El-Fayoum is an oil painting by the Impressionist artist Jean-Léon Gérôme. It dates from 1869 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
- Inscription
- Inscribed:lower right: JL GEROME
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The composition serves as a record of the site's physical appearance, reflecting the artist's interest in Orientalist landscapes and topographical accuracy.
The work presents a cityscape view of the Egyptian town of Medinet El-Fayoum, capturing a specific architectural and urban scene from the region. As a genre painting classified as a cityscape, the piece focuses on the visual documentation of the location's built environment rather than depicting a narrative event or allegorical figures. The title explicitly identifies the subject matter as the town itself, situating the viewer within the context of Gérôme's travels and observations of Egypt during the late 19th century.
The composition serves as a record of the site's physical appearance, reflecting the artist's interest in Orientalist landscapes and topographical accuracy.
Technique & Style
View of Medinet El-Fayoum is executed in oil on wood, a support characteristic of Gérôme's cabinet-scale Orientalist works of the late 1860s. The painting is classified as a cityscape, consistent with its depiction of the Egyptian town of Medinet El-Fayoum.
The panel measures 38 cm in height by 56 cm in width, a modest horizontal format suited to a topographical or vedute-style treatment. Gérôme's signature handling combines precise architectural draftsmanship with tightly controlled brushwork, producing the crisp light and sharply delineated forms typical of his Orientalist practice.
No information on the current condition of the panel is provided in the available sources.
History & Provenance
View of Medinet El-Fayoum was created by Jean-Léon Gérôme in 1869, executed in oil on wood. The earliest recorded owner was Millard F. Tompkins, Esq., from whose holdings the painting was sold at the American Art Gallery in New York on 5 March 1915 (lot 27). It subsequently passed to a Ruppert in a private collection in Maryland, and was offered again at Parke-Bernet Galleries in New York on 17 October 1956 (lot 52), at which point it entered the Woodford collection.
The work later moved to the Sordoni collection in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, likely that of state senator and construction magnate Andrew J. Sordoni (d. 1963). It surfaced at Mathaf Gallery, London, in 1978, was sold in 1982 to a private collection, and was acquired on 14 June 2013 through Galerie Arnoldi-Livie in Munich by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., where it remains.
The provenance chain is documented in Gerald M. Ackerman's 1986 catalogue raisonné of Gérôme (no. 205). No specific accession number or exhibition history is recorded in the available sources.
Overview
Jean-Léon Gérôme’s View of Medinet El‑Fayoum, executed around 1869, is an oil painting on wood that depicts a tranquil oasis in the Egyptian desert. The composition balances a modest water body, a cluster of palm trees, and a distant settlement, all rendered with a measured, almost documentary clarity.
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Artist & collection
- Leaving the Oasis
Leaving the Oasis
A Road outside Algiers
Ezbekiah Strieet in Cairo
Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem
à Minieh, Egypte
Exterior of the House of the Memluk Raduan Bey, Cairo
A view of an Indian city beside a river
A Sheikh and his son entering Cairo on their return from a pilgrimage to Mecca
Ansicht von Kairo
Tomb of Zobeida wife of Haroon ool Rashid in distance
Cairo Seen from the Kasr-el-Nil Bridge