“Mandolinata”

Who Painted this? Conrad Kiesel

Where is he from? Germany

When was this painted? 19th Century

What is this made of? Oil on canvas

Although many people think of Orientalism as having to do with Japan or China, when used in art history, the term has a different meaning. The term, as an artistic movement, can be roughly dated from the 1800s to the early 1900s and refers to the mainly European colonization of what was then referred to as The Orient, namely the Levant and North African countries such as Algeria, Morocco and Egypt.

Because of cultural differences and language barriers between Europeans and those who were colonized, many assumptions were made about Middle Eastern people and places, and sometimes information was completely fabricated.

At first glance, “Mandolinata” (The Mandolin Player) might appear simply as a pretty young woman from the 1800s lying on a marble porch with a stringed instrument in her hands. When you look a bit closer, however, you see that Kiesel painted visual clues to identify the woman as the resident of a harem. For example, she sits upon a beautifully painted Turkish carpet on the floor, has bare feet and wears sheer, draped clothing – all foreign elements that would have been a scandalous way to portray a European or American woman in the 1800s. Incidentally, Kiesel never visited the Middle East and certainly never entered a harem, but at the time nobody would have questioned his depiction of that reality because the fantasy of the other culture was more appealing.

Fun Fact: In the 19th century, it became fashionable for wealthy young people, especially unmarried men, to take a year-long coming of age trip referred to as the Grand Tour. The trip was seen as educationally important to learn about different cultures and experience unfamiliar artwork and architecture. North African and Middle Eastern locales such as Egypt and Turkey were essential stops on the Grand Tour.