“The Sultan gives a concert in honor of his concubine” ( fr. Le Grand Turc donnant un concert à sa maîtresse ) - a painting by French court painter Charles Andre Van Loo , written by him in 1737. For some time belonged to the Prussian king Frederick the Great and the Polish king Stanislav. Currently located in the British Wallace Collection .
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| Charles Andre Van Loo | ||
| Sultan gives a concert in honor of his concubine . 1737 | ||
| fr Le Grand Turc donnant un concert à sa maîtresse | ||
| oil on canvas . 73 × 91 cm | ||
| Wallace Collection , London | ||
| ( Inv. ) | ||
Creation Context
In the 1730s, Europeans began to be interested in exotic Turkish culture. This painting, written in 1737 , is evidence of such interest. The Turkish style becomes fashionable among the secular ladies of that time, because it allows the portraits to afford the degree of nakedness that would be unacceptable in more formal portrait images. However, their outfits were stylized and did not look like real Turkish clothes.
Story
The picture shows a pasha giving a concert for his beloved, who, apparently, is in the center of the picture. The looks of almost all the characters, including the dog, are turned to the pasha. Turku play up to European musical instruments, which gives the staging of what is happening. Theatricality is also achieved through the interior - the group is located in the empty space of a huge palace hall. Massive columns - a symbol of royal power.
It is known that the artist placed his wife, an opera singer named Christina Antonia Somis, on the picture. She sings 'Si caro, si' fashionable at that time from the opera Admeto by Handel . Contemporaries gave the singer the nickname " Philomela of Turin". Philomela is a character of Greek mythology, which cut off the language and which turned into a swallow, but in modern times a metamorphosis occurs in the interpretation of its image and Philomela begins to denote the nightingale. Probably, the singer was considered talented, which earned a flattering nickname. Christina Antonina Somis, like her husband, an artist, inherited the profession of her family.
A similar plot has a painting “Portraying a Pasha's Concubine” in which the artist paints a portrait of a beloved Turk. In the role of the portrait painter, Van Loo depicted himself, as court artists often did. Both this and the previous picture of Van Loo were exhibited together at the salon of 1737 in Paris. Thus, depicting his spouse on one and himself on the other, Van Loo apparently wanted to perpetuate the couple’s singing and pictorial talents.
Sources
'The Grand Turk' giving a concert to his Mistress' by Carle van Loo, 1737, cat. P451 http://www.wallacecollection.org/whatson/treasure/90