A Turkish Fountain c. late 1840s

Narcisse-Virgilio Diaz’s “A Turkish Fountain” is an oil painting, a medium that invites the artist to skillfully manipulate textures and light. In this artwork, Diaz blends layers of pigment on the canvas to depict a scene in Turkey, focusing on the interplay of light and shadow on the architectural details of the fountain. The paint is applied in a way that captures the warm glow of the sun as it hits the stone structure, while also rendering the dense foliage surrounding the fountain. Diaz’s painting uses careful brushstrokes, as he balances the structural solidity of the fountain with the soft, organic forms of nature. The attention to detail, and the amount of work involved in creating this composition, reflect the traditional academic training that Diaz received, while also hinting at the orientalist themes popular during this period. Diaz invites us to consider the intersection of artistic technique, cultural representation, and the artist’s own experience of a place and time.