The Moorish Chief African Art Notebook

The Moorish Chief Painting The first time I saw this painting gracing the walls of the Philadelphia Art museum's European Collection, I was in awe. This is the real deal, yet it looked right out of a Hollywood movie. The Moorish Chief was painted in 1878 by Austrian painter Eduard Charlemont. It says on the museum label, " Standing in front of an arch that closely resembles the architecture of the Alhambra in Spain, the Moorish chief exudes power and mystery. This painting was probably shown at the Paris Salon exhibition of 1878 with the title Le Gardien du serail (The Harem Guard). " The painting is exotic,shown at the Paris Salon in 1878 as The Guardian of the Seraglio. After that, it was named The Alhambra Guard, and 1914 as The Moorish Chief. The painting shows a powerful black man, standing in an exotic room with a sword and wearing white robes. The background is a room that's modelled after the Alhambra in Spain. The historic black man is standing tall, a high ranking chieftan presumable from North Africa. The African man is standing perfectly, an aura of his leading role in a far-away campaign.