Les Portes de Fer

1846 · Painting · 24.3 × 32.1 cm

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Wo ist „Les Portes de Fer“ heute? Sammlung: Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Derzeit nicht ausgestellt. Geprüft 25. September 2026.

Victoria and Albert Museum

London, Vereinigtes Königreich

Es gehört zur Sammlung, ist derzeit aber nicht ausgestellt.

Geprüft: vor 14 Tagen
Unverändert seit: 25. Sept. 2026
Quelle: Das Museum

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Über das Gemälde

On 28 October 1839 Dauzats accompanied a division of the French army, consisting of 3,000 men, through the smaller of the two gorges, known as the Portes de Fer (Gates of Iron), which cut through the Jurjura mountains in Kabylie, Algeria. Their journey from Setif to Algiers was part of a wider French operation, led by the due d'Orleans, to establish political and military hegemony in Algeria.

Dauzats's composition makes full use of the dramatic potential of the scenery. The dark rock walls of the defile fill the picture space almost entirely, towering over the tiny figures of the soldiers, and creating a feeling of claustrophobia. The favourite romantic theme of the insignificance of man in the face of the mighty forces of nature is a recurrent one in Dauzats's work. He painted several views of the Portes de Fer in both oil and watercolour, including five that were reproduced for the Journal de l'Expedition des Partes de Fer (1841), compiled by the poet Charles Nodier. Powerful and atmospheric compositions such as these have established a significant place for Dauzats in the history of French Orientalism.

Victoria and Albert Museum