Self-portrait in a Turkish Outfit 1715 - 1782

This is a print of Jean-Étienne Liotard's self-portrait in Turkish dress, made by Johann Caspar Füssli the Elder. Liotard was a Swiss painter who spent time in the Ottoman Empire in the 1730s, developing a fascination with Turkish culture. He was known for his portraits and genre scenes. The image is a kind of Orientalist fantasy, a European imagining of the East. While seemingly a celebration of Turkish culture, it's also important to consider the power dynamics at play. The exoticization of another culture often occurs within a context of colonialism and unequal power relations. To understand this image, we need to consider not only the artist's personal experiences but also the broader context of European Orientalism. Museum archives, travel writing, and studies of colonial history can all shed light on the complex cultural dynamics represented in this image.