Turkish Recruits Near Smyrna, November 10, 1837 1847

Auguste Raffet made this lithograph titled 'Turkish Recruits Near Smyrna, November 10, 1837'. In this image, we see a long line of men, presumably new army recruits, bound together as they are led across a barren landscape. Raffet made this print after a trip to the Russian Empire and Ottoman Turkey in 1837, at a time when European powers were keenly interested in the region for its strategic significance. The print offers a view of the Ottoman military, a major political institution, but one that was widely seen as backwards and despotic in the West. The artist may have intended to depict a society in need of modernization, in which the individual will is suppressed by the demands of the state. To better understand this artwork, we can consult sources about the political history of 19th-century Turkey and the history of Western European views on the region. This history reminds us that the meaning of art is never fixed, but is contingent on its social and institutional context.