Collections

A Riff Arab

Artist: Melville, Arthur, ARSA · 1855-1904

A Riff Arab

In late 1880 Melville travelled to Egypt for the first time. He spent the next two years travelling in the Middle East and as far as India before…

In late 1880 Melville travelled to Egypt for the first time. He spent the next two years travelling in the Middle East and as far as India before returning to Scotland in May 1882.

It is possible that he first visited the Moroccan city of Tangier as early as 1882 and was a regular visitor there from 1884 to 1893 during his annual excursions to Spain, a short ferry trip across the Mediterranean.

The work is not signed and a preserved inscription from an old mount which is fixed to the rear of the frame describes it as a study. This, coupled with the freedom of its handling, would suggest that it was painted in situ during one of these trips with a view to its possibly being fully worked back in the studio.

Melville was so captivated by what he encountered that sketches made on these early travels became the source material for paintings in both oil and watercolour by which he made his reputation.

The present work depicts a Riffian from the Rif region of Morocco.