Gustavo Simoni
A painter of orientalist subjects, Simoni was born in Rome, where he was trained at the Accademia di San Luca from 1861. He embarked upon his professional career five years later in Paris, and, following a visit to Moorish Spain, made his first visit to Algeria and Tunisia in 1877–9. Thereafter he made frequent return visits to North Africa, and enjoyed considerable success as an orientalist in Britain and Germany, as well as in France and Italy. His Africans Dancing at the Entrance of the Mosque of Sidi Bou Medine in Tlemcen was exhibited at the Royal Academy in London in 1884. Around this time he permanently established his studio in the Villa Patrizi in Rome, close to the Porta Pia.