(Görgö 1861–1928 Budapest)
The necklace, signed Tornai Gy, oil on canvas, 144 x 213 cm, framed, (Rei)

Provenance:
European, Private collection.

Certificate by Dr Gábor Bellák, December 2017, available

Gyula Tornai (1861 – 1928) is regarded as of the most renowned Hungarian painters of Orientalist art. 
His training began at the Viennese Academy (1879 – 1882) and continued at the Munich Academy, where he studied under the Hungarian painter Professor Gyula Benczur (1882 – 1889). Thanks to a scholarship, Tornai was able to travel to Florence, where he copied works by Rembrandt. In 1904, after a few successful exhibitions, Tornai decided to embark on a journey around the world, with prolonged sojourns in India and Japan in particular. He would return with numerous paintings, which he had executed during his travels, to exhibit at the Mücsarnok art gallery. 
Tornai’s works are based on the objective, photographic observation of his subjects, a characteristic that also stood out in the work of his teacher Benczur. He did not paint only in the Orientalist style, but also interpreted the oriental world with new authenticity. 

Compared to Tornai’s other works, the painting A harem scene displays some of his typical compositional features such as, for instance, a crowded and sumptuously furnished interior, a sensually recumbent woman and the depiction or different figures. The sultan on the right is surrounded by three women, at least two of whom are probably his wives. Whilst the third, fully dressed woman to the left, staring indifferently into the void, could be his daughter. A slave with her back to the viewer genuflects before the head of the harem, proffering jewels for purchase. Oriental styles constituted a fascinating subject for European painters in Tornai’s time. 

The present painting, originating from the period when Tornai was at the zenith of his artistic prowess, is among the best and most authentic examples of his oeuvre around 1900.