Today we see the "Merchant of Arms" painting by British artist Charles Robertson who lived in the period between (1844-1891) in which he observes one of the faces of Cairo's buying and selling markets, which we do not all know, but rather has its own dealer and private customer as well.
arms dealer
In the painting, we see the arms dealer sitting in his hand "a sword" and on his face the features of anger and seriousness as befits a arms dealer waiting for certain customers from the elders or the killers or those who want to protect themselves or those who are forced to buy weapons or traffickers in this commodity, and hanging behind him many different weapons Shapes, pistols, swords and rifles.
In the painting, we see one of the men "previewing" a sword he liked, looking at it carefully before buying it, and the British artist was keen not to show us the face of the buying man, at a dramatic glance, which gives us a lot of mystery about the character.
I do not think in that time period, which is the second half of the nineteenth century, there were laws in Cairo regulating the sale of weapons, of course history teachers know more about this part, and they were inevitably exposed to it in their books.
And what is noticed in this painting is the beauty that we find in weapons, it is not just killing tools attached to a wall, and not just a means to protect against dangers and confront criminals, they are artistic pieces in themselves, each piece behind it is an artistic touch of the creator.
Charles Robertson seems to have been fascinated by the oriental shops and their ambiance and has presented them in more than one painting we have shown before some of them.
Tue, Jun. 23, 2020
