The Home Dwelling

The sunlight shimmers down the steps giving the effect of heat above and the tranquil coolness below. Unlike many other Orientalist who painted scenes of their imagination, Pinel wanted to capture the real people he saw and their everyday lives. The detail in his paintings captures the surprising beauty of the places that these people lived in.

In this scene we see a woman pouring the corn into the stone reciprocal to grind to make flour. Behind her is the weaving that many woman did at home, also we can see children sitting listening to someone probably giving lessons in the Koran. On the wall to the left going to the stairs are hanging red chillies and on the floor in the foreground are  dates and a basket of other fruits.

Gustave Nicolas Pinel

Pinel was born in Le Riceys in France and stayed there from 1842 to 1890. Afterwards Pinel worked as a portrait and landscape painter in Paris. He was a pupil of Félix-Joseph Barrias and Léon Bonnat. During this time Pinel also regularly visited the Algerian oasis “Biskra” and then frequently represented this area in his artworks.

Paintings by Pinel are in the Museum Troyes and in Compiegne