Study of a Bearded and Turbaned Man Carrying a Chest 1625 - 1630

Pieter Lastman made this red chalk drawing of a bearded and turbaned man carrying a chest in the early 17th century. Drawings like this one gave artists the chance to practice representing different people and how they looked. Northern European artists like Lastman often looked to the Middle East to create their images of Biblical scenes. They were not trying to represent authentic likenesses, but rather to create exotic characters for dramatic and symbolic effect. Drawings allowed artists to experiment with representing people and how to paint them in a way that signified ‘otherness’ and that would appeal to patrons. To understand this work better, one might research the fashion for Orientalism in Dutch art of the period, consulting costume books and travelogues as source material. By understanding the social context, we can understand how the role of this drawing was tied to cultural and institutional forces.