Frederick Arthur Bridgman

The artist Arthur Croft (1828-1902)

thence by descent in his family until 2024

Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery, Autumn Exhibition, 1879, no. 570

London, Royal Academy, 1880, no. 232

Frederick Arthur Bridgman, Winters in Algeria, New York, 1890, p. 248, the preparatory sketch illustrated

This painting provides a fascinating documentary record of one of the oldest mosques in Algeria at the t.mes , the mosque of Lichana in the province of Biskra, some two hundered and fifty miles south of Algiers.

In his travelogue, Winters in Algeria, published in 1890, Bridgman recalls his impressions upon entering the mosque on his visit in 1879: ‘Heavy round arches of white-washed clay stood upon rude columns that looked as if they had been fashioned by throwing the material together from a distance rather than by any careful trowelling. Several pillars of limestone, with rude capitals, probably Roman, were used in the building, and were worn quite smooth from being constantly leaned against. There was not wealth enough in the community to furnish matting all over the floor, or rather ground. More than half the mosque was not used, and the impalpable dust lay several inches thick round the base of the columns farthest removed from the mimbar or pulpit. This shaky structure, a wooden stairway leading to a stand, and fenced in by curious crossbars for balustrades, had been originally painted green, the holy color. It seemed now too dilapidated to bear the weight of the mufti ... The alcove, scarcely three feet deep, where he had ensconced himself for a good part of the day, was ornamented with twisted and painted columns at the edges; and above on the white walls were various square patterns and scroll-work, painted in vivid colors to take the place of tiles. The little windows were of fascinating design, each one different, and here and there were enlivened with bits of stained glass between the open-work — a remnant of better days that the mosque and village had seen before the French occupation.’ (p. 248)

Interestingly, the painting was exhibited at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool before it was shown at the Royal Academy in 1880. The critic for the Liverpool Mercury singled it out for particular praise: ‘This sanctuary or primitive church is a marvel of architectural originality of ideas. We presume those strange pillars are much worn near their base, for they look as though they would give way at any moment. There are one or two of them tolerably perfect, which show that taste has prevailed and originality of thought has dictated their forms with the same power of beauty which produces only different styles. The figures and the building altogether give us a rare and valuable picture of Eastern magnificence in olden t.mes .’

Orientalist artists almost always depicted worshippers in a variety of different positions within the same painting, rather than showing the figures in the unified, synchronised movement in which they would actually have prayed. Like his master Gérôme, whose influence both in terms of composition and the rigorous academic technique is clearly visible here, Bridgman doubtless wished to show his assumed Western audience the diversity of postures in Muslim prayer, as recorded in Edward William Lane’s influential An Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians (1836). The group of there men to the right of the centre are a case in point. They are, respectively, seen standing to recite the Takbir or invocation to God; bowing to the ground in Sujud; and praying the Tashahhud. These fascinating anomalies aside, the respect and seriousness with which Bridgman's prayer scenes are imbued make these among his most powerful and memorable compositions for the twenty-first century viewer. Interestingly, too, Bridgman captures a women’s space in the last row, separate from the men’s.

Bridgman painted very few scenes inside the mosques, no doubt out of respect for these sacred spaces. Indeed, the present composition was built up from a sketch made on the spot (reproduced Winters in Algeria) and embellished with the vivid colours remembered from his visit. The mosque (with the exception of its minaret), along with the town, were largely destroyed by flooding in 1969.