Slave of Love and Light of the Eyes (Abd-el-Gheram and Nouriel-Aïn, an Arab Legend)

The double title is really two names. In Arabic, Abd-el-Gheram means slave of love and Nouriel-Aïn means light of the eyes, and Dinet painted this pair of lovers from an Arab legend around 1900. They stand close under a night sky pricked with stars, in front of flowering oleanders. She wears a spangled pink veil, heavy silver bracelets and a broad silver belt, and both of them are smiling, cheek against cheek. In the upper corner hangs a gold medallion with Arabic lettering. The French State bought the canvas in 1901 for the Musée du Luxembourg. In 1913 the printmaker Camille-Alexandre Lesage made a print after it, and the City of Paris bought a copy for the Petit Palais in 1918. When the Institut du monde arabe in Paris held an exhibition of his work in 2024, this was the picture on the poster.