Author Description

This pictorial book of classic fine art features artwork from the 1820’s to the early 1900’s and focuses on paintings created during what art historians have termed the Oriental period. Specifically, this is a collection of art displaying odalisques and scenes from life in a harem. Traditionally, an odalisque is a painting of a, usually, nude woman reclining. The odalisque was normally the most beautiful woman in a harem. Other artwork in this book shows dancing, gatherings, bathing and other glimpses of harem life. While each painting presented in this book represents the societies and times in which they were painted, most of the art was created from a fantasy or romantic viewpoint and not so much a historical one. The beauty of these paintings and the stories they might stir in the imagination may not touch upon the lack of freedom and the servitude real women of the harem lived in during those years. Still, while not condoning the lack of freedom of that time, we can still allow ourselves to appreciate the creative effort of the artwork. Thee are fifty-three paintings by artists included in this pictorial book. The artists are: Sophie Gabriac née Allart, Hans Zatzka, Jean Discart, Julius Victor Berger, Salvatore Frangiamore, Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, François Edouard Zier, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Emile Bernard, Jean Paul Flandrin, Blas Olleros y Quintana, Guillaume Seignac, Vincent Stiepevich, Ferdinand Max Bredt, Konstantin Egorovich Makovsky, Delphin Enjolras, Ferdinand Roybet, Jules Joseph Lefebvre, Amedeo Simonetti, Jean Joseph Benjamin Constant, Georges-François Guiaud, John Frederick Lewis, Gyula Tornai, Jean-François Bernard, Frederic Leighton, Nicaise de Keyser, Frederick Arthur Bridgman, Joseph Himmel, Mariano Fortuny Marsal, Wilhelm Heinrich Schlesinger, Giulio Rosati, Louis Icart, Vincent Stiepevich, Fabio Fabbi, Julius Victor Berger, Henri Adrien Tanoux, Theodoros Ralli, J. G. Delincourt, Philippe van Bree,