An Egyptian pottery seller near Gizeh | Oil on Canvas | 38.7 x 54.5 in. / 98.4 x 138.5 cm. | 1876
Christie's London: Thursday, June 18, 1998 [Lot 84] Ottomans and Orientalists
Mavi Boncuk |
Anna Maria Elisabeth Lisinska Jerichau-Baumann (born November 21, 1819 - died July 11, 1881 in Copenhagen) was a Danish painter. She was born in Zoliborz (Jolibord) a borough of Warsaw. Her father, Philip Adolph Baumann (1776–1863), a mapmaker, and her mother, Johanne Frederikke Reyer (1790–1854), were German.
In 1869-1870 Elisabeth traveled extensively in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle-East, and again in 1874-1875 accompanied by her son Harald. She was able to gain access to the harems of the Ottoman Empire and as a result was able to paint scenes of harem life from personal observation in contrast to most artists of the time whose work on this popular subject was entirely derived from the imagination or other artists in the same position as themselves. Nevertheless, as Roberts points out, she had to curb her desire to paint the women of the harems as Europeans liked to imagine them because they insisted on being painted in the latest Paris fashions.
In 1869, she was admitted into the harem of Mustafa Fazil Paşa. She was able to gain entry because of her royal patronage in Denmark and brought with her a letter of introduction from Princess Alexandra of Denmark by then the Princess of Wales. She had accompanied her husband (the future Edward VII) on a grand tour which included the Ottoman Empire, earlier that year, and therefore had great influence. But the fact that Mustafa was a liberal in favour of a Western style constitutional government and was a vocal proponent of modernization played an important part in her being granted entry. She was entranced by Mustafa Paşa's daughter Nazlı and wrote home to her husband and children, 'Yesterday I fell in love with a beautiful Turkish Princess'.Greek girl standing before the Acropolis
A shepherd boy standing before the Parthenon
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