Oil Painting, 'Don Quixote at the Inn', Enrico Gamba, 1876

The internal courtyard of an inn with a knight-dressed figure bowing before a young woman standing on the stairs on the right hand-side; in the middle a man alighting from a mule and on the upper floor other figures drinking.

Bequeathed by Henry Spencer Ashbee

Bequeathed by Henry Spencer Ashbee, 1900

Historical significance: This painting is a good example of the art of Enrico Gamba, one of the principal exponents, in Piedmont, of a genre of painting that was still academic in its form and at the same time romantic and literary in its content.
The scene derived from Don Quixote (1605-1615), a chivalry novel written by Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616), intended as a parody of the many books of chivalry that were in vogue in Spain at the time. It became one of the founding works of modern Western literature.
The painting illustrates the moment in which Don Quixote had decided to go on a quest. At the end of the day, he ended up at an inn, which he believes to be a castle, and asked the innkeeper, who he thinks to be the lord of the castle, to dub him a knight.
Gamba painted the scene quite academically with very refine brushwork, enhanced by interesting effects of the sunset light projected against the wall. This technical refinement contrasts with the comic of the scene dominated by the grandiose behaviour of Don Quixote, bowing before a young woman (certainly not a lady), who ironically bows back, and the man seen from the back, alighting from his mule.
The painting is particularly notable for the attention to details, especially the costumes, to which Gamba was very attentive - see Flower Market in Delft, 1864 (Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Rome) and the Tago river in Belem, 1873 (sold Christie's Rome, 04 Jun 2001, Lot 00728) - and also the window in the Moorish style, typical of the Spanish architecture.
Don Quixote is dressed in a typical Renaissance outfit in the Spanish fashion with a cuirass, a high-standing white collar and long socks whereas the young woman and the other figures are dressed with 17th-century costumes, contemporary of the book's publication. This voluntary discrepancy highlights the outdated behaviour of Don Quixote who lived in a world of fantasy, which made him unable to properly interact with reality.
History painting during the 19th century was still fashionable although concomitant with the developed of a new realism in landscape and genre paintings that would eventually supplanted it.

History painting, i.e. depictions of non recurring events based on religious, classical, literary or allegorical sources, particularly developed in Italy during the Renaissance (15th-16th centuries). History painting could include religious themes, or depictions of momentous recent events, but the term was most frequently associated with Classical subject-matter. However a renewed impetus was given to religious subjects after the Council of Trent (1545-63), which stipulated new iconographical programmes. The development of art treatises, in which the compositional rules guiding the art of painting were discussed also notably, influenced the evolution of history painting. From around 1600 history painting's principal rivals: still-life, landscape and genre painting began to emerge as independent collectable genres. Furthermore, the Rococo taste for the ornamental in the early 18th century prioritised the decorative quality of history painting, so that subject matters became more entertaining than exemplary. There was a renewed interest in history painting during the Neo-Classical period after which the taste for such pictures faded towards the end of the 19th century when an innovative approach to the image was led by the Symbolists and was developed further by subsequent schools in the early 20th century.

Enrico Gamba (1831-1883) was born in Turin where he was trained at first by his older brother, Francesco (1818-1887). He subsequently entered the Accademia Albertina di Belle Arti in Turin, where he later became a professor, and from 1850 studied at the Stadelsche Kunstinstitut in Frankfurt am Main under Friedrich Overbeck (1789-1869). He was principally a history and genre painter.

This painting is a good example of the art of Enrico Gamba who mainly produced history and genre paintings. It shows a scene deriving from the Spanish novel, Don Quixote, published between 1605 and 1615. This painting shows the moment in which Don Quixote, who wanted to become a knight, stopped by an inn, which he believed to be a castle. History paintings of this kind were still fashionable during the 19th century even though it would be eventually supplanted by landscape and genre paintings at the end of the century.

1846-1900