Nicola Forcella (Italian, born circa 1868)Teaching the Qur'an
signed 'N. Forcella' (lower right)
oil on canvas
60.8 x 100cm (23 15/16 x 39 3/8in).注脚An Italian Orientalist painter, Forcella was born in Castelleneta, Southern Italy, and lived much of his life in Cairo, where he taught in the Khedival Art School. Despite his heritage, Forcella exhibited work at the Société des Artistes Français in Cairo, and was later decorated with the Imperial Order of Medjidie, an honour awarded by the Ottoman Empire to non-Turkish citizens.1

In the present lot, Forcella has depicted a madrasa, with a group of boys, many distracted in their studies, being taught the Qur'an. Some of the boys are using crudely made wooden Qur'an stands to support their books.

1 The Shafik Gabr Collection, Paris, 2008, p. 160.