Alexandre CURT - Landscape with a mosque in Cairo

Alexandre CURT
Second half of the 19th century
Landscape with a mosque in Cairo
Oil on canvas
Signed and dated lower left "Alexandre CURT / 1864".
61.5 x 50.5 cm (89 x 79 cm with frame)
Nice oval frame with keys
Beautiful modern black and gilded painted wood frame
Good condition

The painting is signed Alexandre Curt and dated 1864. Alexandre Curt was the son of Marguerite-Rose Huot de Goncourt, the paternal aunt of brothers Edmond and Jules de Goncourt. His father was a brewer from Bar-le-Duc who owned a theater.
Little is known about this Alexandre Curt. He is mentioned in the Goncourt diary and in Ancré Billy's biography of the Goncourt brothers. He was a registry inspector. It's possible that this is our painter.
Several paintings with similar compositions are known, including one by Narcisse Berchère: "La mosquée Abou Leila au Caire" (Galerie Ary Jan). Emile Régnault de Maulmain also painted "Arrivée de la caravane devant la Mosquée Émir Akhor au Caire" in 1881 (sold at Sotheby's in London in 2002), which closely resembles our painting. It has to be said that the subject of mosques in Egypt was fashionable in the 1860s/80s. Did Alexandre Curt travel to the Orient in order to visit Egypt, and Cairo in particular, as was customary in the good families of the Second Empire? What's more, we're inclined to think that Alexandre Curt studied painting, as the workmanship is of the highest quality. Even if the subject isn't original, there's a fine description of the dwelling in the foreground and the minaret in the background, with lots of detail, beautiful colors and well-rendered evening light.

Ref: K571JW3P7E