Marius Bauer - etching, signed lower right - 1910

Marius Bauer was born into an art-loving family; the children learned to draw at an early age. He had an older brother, the architect Willem Cornelis Bauer. From 1878 to 1885, Bauer attended the Royal Academy of Visual Arts in The Hague, where he studied alongside his contemporary Breitner, among others. He was a member of Pulchri Studio and Arti et Amicitiae. In 1888, he undertook a study trip to Constantinople. From that moment on, the 'East' became his main subject. Subsequently, he made many trips to Spain, Russia, Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, India, Ceylon, and the Dutch East Indies. He was enabled to do so by the Amsterdam art dealer Elbert Jan van Wisselingh, who paid for his trips abroad along with an allowance to support him.