Arnaut Smoking is an 1865 orientalist painting by French Academic artist Jean-Léon Gérôme.
Analysis of Arnaut Smoking
In Arnaut Smoking (also known as Arnaut fumant) from 1865, again Jean-Léon Gérôme reveals his fascination with other cultures here as his protagonist Arnaut is in Middle Eastern dress having just drawn smoke from a hookah pipe.
The setting too is Middle Eastern and Islamic, as we see the background screen on which is fine and detailed tracery. The mood of the sitter seems to be one of self-absorption with his head lowered deep in thought. Arnaut is the oriental name for Albanian.
Jean-Léon Gérôme’s Arnaut Smoking is in a Private Collection. It was last auctioned in December 2019.