The snake charmer, 1889 by Nasreddine Dinet ::

Details

Alternative title

Le charmeur de viperes

Date

1889

Media category

Painting

Materials used

oil on canvas

Dimensions

176.5 x 180.4 cm

Signature & date

Signed and dated l.l., yellow oil "E. DINET / ...1889".

Credit

Purchased 1890

Location

South Building, ground level, Grand Courts

Accession number

799

Copyright

Reproduction requests

Artist information

Nasreddine Dinet

Works in the collection

1

Share

About

Another of the prolofic technicians of late nineteenth-century art, Dinet was a French-born painter-illustrator, with a penchant for attention-seeking titles and striking technical effects are exploited in 'The snake charmer', an orientalist painting that doubles as a touristic postcard. Exotic in its geo-graphical setting and sensational in its subject matter, it further trades on scale as a strategy to arrest the viewer. The figures are large and brilliantly coloured, seeming to spill into the gallery space. The charmer himself is consciously that, with a toothy smile and 'authentic' costume. Also noteworthy is the treatment of bright sunlight which Dinet translates into broad applications of impasto paint with practised, not to say formulaic, ease. No real attempt is made to create a composition. Rather, the cropped casualness of a photograph is suggested.

AGNSW Handbook, 1999.

Exhibition history

Shown in 8 exhibitions

Paris Salon, 1890, Paris Salon, Paris, 1890–1890
Salon de 1890, Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1890–1890
Loan collections of oil paintings, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1894–1894

Loan collections of oil paintings, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 1894–1894

Loan collections of oil paintings, National Gallery of Victoria [Swanston Street], Melbourne, Sep 1894–Sep 1894
Exhibition of continental art, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Nov 1940–Dec 1940
An exhibition of French art at the National Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 04 Oct 1944–31 Oct 1944
Salon and Academie: the charm of tradition, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 15 Nov 1984–May 1985
Orientalism - Delacroix to Klee, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 06 Dec 1997–22 Feb 1998

Orientalism - Delacroix to Klee, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, Auckland, 20 Mar 1998–07 Jun 1998
Grand Courts collection rehang, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Nov 2021–2023

Bibliography

Referenced in 29 publications

Koudir Benchikou, La vie et l'oeuvre de Etienne Dinet, Paris, 1991. cat.no. 144
Koudir Benchikou, Catalogue del l'oeuvre de Dinet, 1984, 194. cat.no. 144
Leonce Bénédite, L'artiste, 1890, 85.
Roger Benjamin, Look, 'The Romance of Arabia - Orientalism - Delacroix to Klee', pg. 14-17, Heidelberg, Dec 1997, 15 (colour illus.), 16.
Roger Benjamin, Orientalism – Delacroix to Klee, 'The Oriental Mirage', pg. 7-31, Sydney, 1997-1998, 20, 41-43, 44 (colour illus.), 45, 129 (colour illus.), 129-30.
Tim Bonyhady, Images in opposition: Australian landscape painting 1801–1890, 'Contrasting lights', pg.135-154, Melbourne, 1985, 149.
Armand Dayot, Le Salon de 1890, 1890, 84 (illus.).
Robert Dessaix, (and so forth), Sydney, 1998, (colour illus.). The image appears between pages 232 and 233.
Jeanne Dinet Rollince, La vie de E. Dinet, 1938, 62.
R. Fernandez, Le monde illustre, 17 May 1890, 322.
Renée Free, Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, 'European', pg. 36-56, Sydney, 1988, 48.
Maurice Hamel, Le Salon de 1890, 1890, 86 (illus.).
Janet Hawley, Good Weekend, 'Scenes from the Kaskah', pg. 24-30, Sydney, 1997, 27, 28 (colour illus.).
Ernest Hoschédé, Brelaus de salons, 1890, 225.
Bruce James, Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, 'Western Collection: Paintings and Sculpture', pg. 17-77, Sydney, 1999, 50 (colour illus.).
Firmin Javel, L'art francais, 28 Jun 1890. cat.no. 166 (repr. en glyptographie)
Georges La Fesnetic, Revue des deux mondes, vil 3, 1890, 925.
Paul Mantz, Le Temps, 02 Jul 1890.
National Art Gallery of New South Wales, National Art Gallery of New South Wales: exhibition of continental art, Sydney, 1940. cat.no. 1
Henri Pagat, Revue francaise et samedi réunis, 1890, 97.
Lynne Thornton, The Orientalists: painter travellers, 1983.
Anna Waldmann, Renée Free and Nicholas Draffin, Salon and Académie: the charm of tradition: a catalogue of nineteenth-century European salon works, Sydney, 1984, (illus.). no catalogue numbers
Author Unknown, L'Art et les artistes, 1909-1910, 163-172.
Editor Unknown (Editor), Art and Australia, 'Victorian favourites: a conversation - Elwyn Lynn and Lloyd Rees', pg. 49-56, Sydney, Spring 1984, 49, 52, 55.
National Art Gallery of NSW: illustrated catalogue, Sydney, 1906, (illus.). cat.no. 77
Editor Unknown (Editor), Paris Salon, Paris, 1890, 95 (illus.).
Author Unknown, Figaro, 1890, (illus.).
Editor Unknown (Editor), Art and Australia, 'The Art of Arthur Streeton', pg. 12, Sydney, 1919, 12.
An exhibition of French art at the National Art Gallery of N.S.W, Sydney, 1944. cat.no. 101

Provenance

Paris Salon, Paris/France, Purchased by the AGNSW from the Paris Salon 1890