The pilgrims at Mount Arafat on the 9th day of dhu’l-Hijjah, by Etienne Dinet on Collections Sphere from

This painting by Alphonse-Étienne Dinet shows pilgrims at Mount Arafat on the ninth day of the month of Dhu al-Hijjah. Born in France in 1861, Dinet studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and painted in the Orientalist style. Known for his figural works, Dinet received critical acclaim at the Salon des Artistes Français. In 1884 he took his first visit to North Africa, which profoundly shaped his painting style, as he became fascinated with the culture of Algeria. He converted to Islam and performed the Hajj in 1929. His guide in Algeria, Sliman Ben Ibrahim became a great friend to Dinet and they wrote several works in collaboration on the subject of Islam and Algeria. An inscription on the lower right states that this work is ‘Souvenir d’Et. Dinet à son collaborateur El Hadj Slimane ben Ibrahim. La Mecque 1929’. This work is possibly a study for an illustration from ‘La vie de Mohammed’, one of the works they wrote together.