John Singer Sargent

oil on canvas

1880

Clark Art Institute

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    31 year ago

    “A woman holds part of her elaborate garment over a silver censer to capture the perfumed smoke of smoldering ambergris. A waxy substance extracted from whales, ambergris was used in some religious rituals and was also said to have aphrodisiac qualities. Sargent began this painting in Tangier, with a model posed on the patio of a rented house, but he completed it in his Paris studio. The finished painting presents a fantasy for Western eyes, combining details of costume and setting adapted from different regions across North Africa.”

    https://www.clarkart.edu/ArtPiece/Detail/Fumee-d-ambre-gris-(Smoke-of-Ambergris)-(2)