Figure 1.-- This Duveneck work was entitled 'Turkish page'. It was one of his orientalist works. We are not sure just what a Turkish page was. It doesn't look to us like he is dressed for service in the Ottoman court. I think the suggestionwas he was emloyed to run erads a harem. We suspect he painted this in Germany where there was more of a market for orientalist paintings than America.

Frank Duveneck, like many European artists, experimented with orientlism. One of these images was a 'Turkish page' (1876). The Ottoman Empire was in decline at the time, but Europeans were still fascinaged with it. Some artists specialized in orientaliam. Duvenneck painted only a few. Some Europeans sctually went to the Middle East. The French had their North African colonies. Orientalism was much more common in Europe than more prudish America. As best we can tell, Duveneck's oriental works were simply flights of fancy. Unlike his work in Italy, his oriental paintings were purely imaginary. We are unsure just what information he used on which to base his imagery. This was the case with artists like Duveneck who painted Ottoman harem scenes--a long way from Covington Kentucky.

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Created: 12:34 AM 12/15/2016
Last updated: 12:34 AM 12/15/2016