Marché à Fez

Félix Ziem's market scene in Fez (1887) depicts the commercial heart of one of the most ancient Islamic cities in the world — the medina of Fez, with its thousand-year-old fabric of souks, mosques, and workshops that created the archetypal Islamic city. The Fez market was a subject of fascination for Orientalist painters who found there a visual richness of color, texture, and human activity unmatched in the modernizing cities of Europe. Ziem's market scene participates in the tradition of French Orientalist market subjects established by Delacroix and continued by Gérôme and Fromentin.

Ziem renders the North African market with his characteristic warm, saturated palette — the varied colors of merchandise, clothing, and architecture creating a chromatic richness that suited his sensuous approach. The enclosed market space of the Fez souk creates a different light environment from his open Venetian waterscapes — the filtered light of covered lanes and the deep shadows of stall interiors providing dramatic tonal contrasts. Figures in the market provide human scale and social animation.