The Bagpiper 1833 - 1838

Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps created this etching of a bagpiper, sometime in the mid-19th century. The image encapsulates some key trends in French art at the time. Decamps was well known for his interest in genre scenes and peasant life, which came into vogue in the nineteenth century. The etching demonstrates the realities of rural life. There is no romanticising of the social conditions of the labouring classes here, instead, the artist creates a portrait of everyday experience. He was one of the most influential members of the French Orientalist school, known for paintings depicting Middle Eastern scenes. Later in his career, his work moved from these exotic scenes to more familiar subjects. Here, Decamps depicts the social life of the French countryside, while maintaining the close observation he developed in his earlier Orientalist work. An art historian might compare this print to other images of working people at the time, looking at official census data, folklore archives, or histories of music to uncover more about the cultural place of the bagpiper in 19th century France.