Pilgrims going to Mecca


Pilgrims going to Mecca is a painting by Léon Belly. It is a very large oil on canvas work. It won a first class medal at the Salon of 1861, was bought by the state from the artist, and originally displayed at the Musée du Luxembourg. Since 1983 it has been part of the collection at the Musée d'Orsay, in Paris. From the time it was first exhibited it has been considered a masterpiece of orientalist painting.

Subject

The work depicts a caravan of Muslims going on the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. In 1856, the artist had come across such a caravan while he was in Egypt and then worked for nearly three years to create this work. The precision with which Belly depicted both the camels and the human figures gives this painting an almost photographic quality.
Compared with many more romantic portrayals of Middle Eastern people, Belly’s work is both realistic and sympathetic. His pilgrims are elderly, tired, and very ordinary looking, though their composure, as well as the work’s composition, lend them a quality of nobility. Belly was concerned to portray an ethnographically exact image of a pilgrimage. One of the most important elements of the painting is the way it uses the effects of light. Additionally, it was one of the first orientalist works to give prominence to the camel.

History

The painting has been featured in numerous exhibitions, including: