Oil painting on thick parchment paper signed on the right part « PC 51 » and titled on the back “

Tourbet El Bey Tunis

". From a pair of the same size – The other one dated “51” representing the “

Sidi Belhassen El Halfaoui mosque in

Tunis

”.

Cirou  studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Dijon (city of origin of our paintings), then in Paris at the academy Julian in the workshops of William Bougereau, Baschet and Gabriel Ferrier from 1893 to 1897. Paul
Cirou discovered Algeria in 1907 for health reasons and decided to settle there in 1912, first at the seaside resort of Ténès, then in Tlemcen from 1920 to 1932 and finally in Mascara in Oranie where Cirou became a teacher drawing at the Superior School of Girls from 1933 to 1935. He painted the portrait of the Governor General and produced a set of colorful Orientalist-inspired works.