MONUMENTAL OIL BY GAETANO DE MARTINI

A large-scale oil on board measuring 94cm x 1.28m (37 x 50 1/2in) and depicting a vast desert ceremony with hundreds of people gathered with tents and buildings in the distance, signed lower left, frame size 1.08 x 1.41m (42 1/2 x 55 1/2in); Provenance: Roberts Art Gallery, Toronto, label verso; present private London collection; Gaetano De Martini, Italian, 1840-1917; the artist was active in Turkey, where this work is believed to have been executed; only a handful of works by Martini have appeared for sale the past 30 years, this is perhaps the most important in terms of size and subject