Black Bashi Bazouk Jean-Leon Gerome Date: c.1868 Style: Orientalism Genre: portrait Medium: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 31 3/4 x 26 in. (80.6 x 66 cm) Location: Private Collection
This arresting picture was made after Gérôme returned to Paris from a twelve-week journey to the Near East in early 1868. He was at the height of his career when he dressed a model in his studio with textiles he had acquired during the expedition. The artist’s Turkish title for this picture—which translates as "headless"—evokes the unpaid irregular soldiers who fought ferociously for plunder under Ottoman leadership, although it is difficult to imagine this man charging into battle wearing such an exquisite silk tunic. Gérôme’s virtuosic treatment of textures provides a sumptuous counterpoint to the figure’s dignified bearing.
A bashi-bazouk (Turkish: başıbozuk, IPA: [bɑʃɯboˈzuk], lit. "damaged head", roughly "leaderless" or "disorderly") was an irregular soldier of the Ottoman army. Bashi-bazouk could be ethnic Turks or from other peoples of the empire such as Circassians, Arabs, Albanians, or Bosniaks.
Copyright Statement:
All the reproduction of any forms about this work unauthorized by Singing Palette including images, texts and so on will be deemed to be violating the Copyright Laws. To cite this webpage, please link back here.