By the Entrance 

Rudolf Ernst painted this scene with oil on canvas sometime between the late 19th and early 20th century. Ernst was part of a movement called Orientalism, in which European artists depicted the "exotic" cultures of North Africa and the Middle East. The painting is a window onto a world painstakingly constructed by the artist. Consider the detail rendered by Ernst's fine brushwork. He captures the rough texture of the aged walls, the glazed smoothness of the decorative tiles, and the soft folds of the figure's garments. The production of these kinds of paintings fueled a market for idealized visions of distant lands and cultures. They involved many studio assistants in the manufacturing of artworks for the bourgeois public. Looking at this painting through the lens of materials and making helps us understand its cultural significance. It challenges the traditional art-historical focus on individual genius.