The Art: The Experts
The Artist: Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps
About the Work:
In the years to come, Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps would be acclaimed as the father of Orientalism, thanks to a keen ability to combine a bold style with a touch of humour to create paintings of daily life in the Middle East and Asia.
But this was 1837, and Decamps work was not yet understood or accepted by the art world.
Having submitted various pieces on multiple occasions to the French Academy of Painting, only to have them invariably rejected, Decamps responded with what would, ironically, become his most famous work.
The Experts (also known as The Monkey Connoisseurs) satirises the academy’s selection jury by depicting them as monkeys. Their chief can be seen intensely studying a baroque painting – a painting which is designed to be easily understood – an act which represents his inability to recognise true art.
The painting is an example of singerie (literally, a ‘monkey trick’), a genre that satirically depicts apes mimicking humans. Incredibly, singerie dates back to 1500BC, and the Ancient Egyptian Empire, where monkeys are rumoured to have been trained as waiters.
Today, The Experts calls the Metropolitan Museum of Art its home. I wonder how Decamps would depict its curators.