Odalisque by Jules Lefebvre - 1874 - 102.4 × 200.7 cm Art Institute of Chicago Odalisque by Jules Lefebvre - 1874 - 102.4 × 200.7 cm Art Institute of Chicago

Odalisque

oil on canvas • 102.4 × 200.7 cm
  • Jules Lefebvre - 14 March 1834 - 24 February 1912 Jules Lefebvre 1874

An odalisque was a chambermaid or a female attendant in a Turkish seraglio, particularly the court ladies in the household of the Ottoman sultan. During the 19th century, odalisques became common fantasy figures in the artistic movement known as Orientalism, being featured in many erotic paintings from that era, which caused the equation of Orientalism with the nude in a sensual, not to say pornographic, mode, as in the painting we see today that was created by the French painter Lefebvre.

In many of these works, they portrayed the Orient as exotic, colorful, sensual, and ultimately stereotyped. Such works typically concentrated on Arab, Jewish, and other Semitic cultures, as those were the ones visited by artists as France became more engaged in North Africa. French artists such as Eugène Delacroix, Jean-Léon Gérôme, and Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres painted many works depicting Islamic culture. They stressed both lassitude and visual spectacle.

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P.S. And here's everything you should know about Orientalism. Check it out!