Rudolf Ernst had a lifelong fascination with Islamic and Moorish art, which informed his richly colored orientalist paintings. These demonstrate the Austrian artist’s extraordinary attention to detail and his mastery of texture and form.
Ernst was born in 1854 in Vienna. His father, Leopold Ernst, was a painter and architect. Encouraged by his father to pursue his interest in the arts, Ernst entered the Academy of Fine Arts at age 15. There, he studied academic art under Austrian painter and muralist August Eisenmenger and German classicist painter Anselm Feuerbach.
In 1874, Ernst left the Academy to study the Old Masters in Rome. After two years in Italy, he moved to Paris, where he met Turkish painter Osman Hamdi Bey, who inspired him to paint orientalist subjects.
In the following years, Ernst traveled extensively throughout Turkey, Morocco, Egypt and Moorish Spain, where he was enamored with Islamic art and culture. By 1885, his oeuvre consisted mainly of orientalist themes. Ernst’s favorite subjects included the harem — as shown in his figurative painting Spinning Yarn in the Harem (1886) — Hindu temples, Nubian guards and scenes of Islamic daily life, such as his watercolor portrait Man Smoking in Doorway.
In 1890, Ernst was introduced to the art of ceramic tile decorating while visiting Constantinople (today’s Istanbul). Back in Paris, he continued learning about ceramic art from ceramicist and glassmaker Léon Fargue. During his later years, Ernst constructed a ceramic studio where he made orientalist faience tiles. He also continued painting resplendent Eastern scenes from his Ottoman-style studio, often wearing a tarboosh hat while he worked.
Ernst participated in several notable exhibitions, including the Exposition Universelle held in Paris in 1889 and 1900. He won a bronze medal at the 1889 Exposition. He died in 1932.
Today, Ernst’s paintings can be found in the collections of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and the Dahesh Museum of Art in New York City.
On 1stDibs, discover a range of Rudolf Ernst’s paintings.
Praying in the Desert by Rudolf Ernst, 19th Century Oil on Panel
By Rudolf Ernst
Located in Jacksonville, FL
Rudolph Ernst’s Praying in the Desert is a masterful example of Orientalist art, showcasing the artist's profound ability to blend intricate detail with an atmosphere of serene spiri...
Oil, Panel
Price Upon Request
Bedouin at Prayer, Orientalist Oil Painting on Panel by Rudolf Ernst
By Rudolf Ernst
Located in Long Island City, NY
This painting by Orientalist artist Rudolf Ernst depicts a Muslim man in quiet contemplation during prayer. He kneels in solitude in the vast desert as the light fades around him. Ma...
Oil, Wood Panel
$2,420Sale Price|20% Off
H 14 in W 17 in D 1 in
Shipping in Calm Waters, 18th Century Dutch Oil on Wood Panel, Man o War
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Shipping in Calm Waters Dutch School, 18th century oil painting on wood panel panel: 10 x 12.75 inches framed: 14 x 17 inches condition: very good, minor evidenc...
Oil, Wood Panel
$8,200Sale Price|20% Off
H 34.26 in W 44.1 in
Architectural Capriccio Paint Garola 17/18th Century Oil on canvas Old master
Located in Riva del Garda, IT
Pier Francesco Garola (Turin 1638 - Rome 1716) Architectural capriccio with coastal view Oil on canvas 74 x 99 cm With frame 87 x 112 cm Reference bibliography: G. Sestieri,...
Oil
$235
H 3.15 in W 5.12 in D 0.4 in
Print Albert Anker "Der Quacksalber", Laque on Panel, Mid-Century, Framed
Located in Zofingen, AG
Print Albert Anker "Der Quacksalber", Laque on Panel, Mid-Century, Framed Title Print on Panel Albert Anker "Der Quacksalber", Mid-Century, Framed, Switzerland Medium Print on pane...
Oil, Panel
$9,353
H 29 in W 38 in D 1 in
Large 17th Century Dutch Old Master Panel Shipping on Stormy Seas Rocky Coast
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Shipping on Rough Seas by Jacob Adriaensz Bellevois (1621-1675, Dutch), unsigned oil painting on wood panel, framed panel: 23.25 x 32.75 inches framed: 29 x 38 inches. condition: s...
Oil, Wood Panel
$58,252
H 17.33 in W 22.05 in
Macbeth and the Three Witches a Painting on Panel by Francesco Zuccarelli
By Francesco Zuccarelli
Located in PARIS, FR
This painting, created during Zuccarelli's stay in England, represents the decisive moment when Macbeth, together with Banquo, meets the three witches who announce that he will be Ki...
Oil, Wood Panel
$7,649
H 16.15 in W 27.76 in
17th century Flemish seascape - Stormy Sea with Merchant Vessels and dolphins
By Bonaventura Peeters the Elder
Located in Aartselaar, BE
Bonaventura Peeters the Elder (1614–1652) attr., Stormy Coastal Scene with Merchant Vessels, Galliot, and Dolphins Framed by rugged cliffs and illuminated under a dark, swirling sk...
Oil, Panel
$1,950
H 6.5 in W 8.5 in
Early 19th century Antique English landscape with cows in a cowshed
Located in Woodbury, CT
Wonderfully painted early 19th-century English rural landscape with cattle in a cowshed. Very similar to the work of Edward Williams who was a very well-known English landscape pai...
Oil, Wood Panel
$5,507Sale Price|20% Off
H 30.32 in W 25.6 in
Lamentation Christ Van Dyck Paint 17/18th Century Oil on canvas Old master Art
Located in Riva del Garda, IT
Lamentation of Christ Follower of Anthony van Dyck (Antwerp 1599 - London 1641) Late 17th-early 18th century Oil on canvas (64 x 51 cm. - Framed 77 x 65 cm.) This is a very...
Oil
$5,295
H 13.19 in W 13.19 in
Mediterranean Harbour with Lighthouse and Shipping
Located in Stockholm, SE
French School, late 17th Century Mediterranean Harbour with Lighthouse and Shipping oil on panel, circular composition unframed 20 cm (7.9 in) framed 33.5 × 33.5 cm (13.2 × 13.2 in...
Oil, Wood Panel
$57,772
H 36 in W 48 in D 5 in
Large Fine 19th Century Landscape Oil on Canvas of Victorian London by Moonlight
By Henry Pether
Located in Gerrards Cross, GB
‘Westminster from the Thames by Moonlight’ by Henry Pether (1800-1880). The painting - one of the artist’s finest views of London in the 1860s - depicts the Houses of Parliament, t...
Oil
$9,668Sale Price|20% Off
H 33.08 in W 38.98 in
Myth Apollo Issa De Lairesse Paint 17/18th Century Oil on canvas Old master Art
Located in Riva del Garda, IT
Gérard de Lairesse (Liège 1641 - Amsterdam 1711) workshop The Myth of Apollo and Issa (from Ovid, Metamorphoses, book VI, 122-124) Oil on canvas 65 x 82 cm. - Framed 84 x 99 cm...
Oil
$12,116Sale Price|20% Off
H 40.56 in W 52.37 in
Stormy Sea Ships Landscape Van Plattenberg Paint 17/18th Century Oil on canvas
Located in Riva del Garda, IT
Matthieu Van Plattenberg (Antwerp 1608 - Paris 1660) workshop of Stormy sea with ships Oil on canvas 90 x 120 cm - In antique frame 103 x 133 cm This evocative coastal view...
Oil
Praying for Victory by Rudolf Ernst
By Rudolf Ernst
Located in New Orleans, LA
Rudolf Ernst 1854-1932 Austrian Praying for Victory Signed “R. Ernst” (lower left) Oil on panel Austro-French Orientalist painter Rudolf Ernst showcases his virtuosity for the ge...
Canvas, Oil
Spinning Yarn in the Harem by Rudolf Ernst
By Rudolf Ernst
Located in New Orleans, LA
Rudolf Ernst 1854-1932 Austrian Spinning Yarn Signed and dated “R. Ernst 86” (lower right) Oil on panel Austro-French Orientalist painter Rudolf Ernst showcases his aptitude for the genre in this skillfully executed oil on panel. In it, two exotically dressed...
Oil, Panel
La Fileuse
By Rudolf Ernst
Located in New York, NY
RUDOLF ERNST Austrian, 1854-1932 La Fileuse Signed 'R. Ernst' Oil on panel 13 x 9 1/2 inches Framed: 20.25 in. x 16.50 inches
Oil, Panel
Sold
H 21.63 in W 17.88 in D 5 in
Large Oil Painting of A Dervish Man Rudolf Ernst
By Rudolf Ernst
Located in New York, NY
Rudolf Ernst Austrian 1854 - 1932 A Dervish signed R. Ernst lower left oil on panel Unframed: 55 by 45cm., 21¾ by 17¾in. Framed: 90.8 by 81.5cm., 35¾ by 32in. Dervishes in Islam were members of a Sufi fraternity, religious mendicants who chose or accepted material poverty. Their lives were dedicated to the universal values of love and service, and on the renunciation of ego to reach God, and the alms they received were not for their own good but to help others in need. In most Sufi orders, a dervish was known to practice the ritual prayer of dhikr through dance or religious practices to attain the ecstatic trance to reach God. Their most popular practice was Sama, which is associated with the thirteenth-century mystic Rumi. In folklore, dervishes are often credited with the ability to perform miracles, including healing powers. In the present work, a dervish descends stairs carrying a kashkul, or beggar’s bowl. Considered to be the most emblematic accoutrement of the wandering dervish, kashkuls were primarily used to collect alms and occasionally as drinking vessels. In later centuries, many functioned as decorative objects since a devoted dervish would be unlikely to carry an elaborately carved kashkul as it would contradict his belief in the renunciation of worldly goods. BIOGRAPHY Rudolf Ernst was born in Vienna in 1854 and joined the Academy of Fine Arts at the age of 15. Ernst also studied in the studios of Eisenmenger and Feuerbach at the Viennese Academy. After a sojourn to Rome in 1874, he settled in Paris in 1876 where he would exhibit at the Salon des Artistes Francais for the following six decades, befriending Ludwig Deutsch...
Oil, Panel
Sold
H 25.4 in W 22.45 in
Rudolf Ernst (1854-1932) Signed French-Austrian Oil, Bishop and Monk in Interior
By Rudolf Ernst
Located in Corsham, GB
A truly exquisite signed late 19th/early 20th century interior oil painting on canvas by the renowned French-Austrian artist Rudolf Ernst (1854-1932). The painting depicting two figu...
Canvas, Oil