Help me identify this paintaing

November 21, 2008 10:13 AM

Who is the artist behind / what is the name of this painting? And what do you call art like this?

I really like the shading and detail, and the Muslim-era look man. Trying to find this type of art in large print size.
FYI - I came across this from a link on Time.com (click "More features" on the right side of the "features" area at the bottom of the page).

posted by GenTso to media & arts (8 comments total)

Classicism?
posted by cmoj at 12:09 PM on November 21, 2008

fwiw, I'd say it might be an early "Orientalist" painting: a school/current which originated more or less in the last years of the 18th century with the fascination (mostly in France) with Egypt, the Ottoman Empire, the Middle East and exotic settings in general.
Besides the fact that a wider view of the same painting is featured in this page, I've no idea about who the painter might be.
posted by _dario at 12:14 PM on November 21, 2008

If you click the photo in _dario's link, it goes here, and says, "Portrait of Barbarossa by Florentine School, 1550".
posted by Houstonian at 12:19 PM on November 21, 2008

Though I do not know the context of that particular painting, Orientalism would perhaps capture the characteristics -- the sensuality of detail, the turbaned man whose facial features bear traces of a Western aesthetic (note the beauty mole and the "Roman nose"), the use of shading -- that had initially drawn you to it.
posted by Aleatoire at 12:31 PM on November 21, 2008

Ha, thanks Houstonian, looks like I was *way* off both in age and origin of the painting! (with extra bonus: I'm from -erm- Florence, actually). To my partial excuse, I've been observing orientalist paintings for a while now, so as soon as there's a turban in sight my neurons flip.
posted by _dario at 12:39 PM on November 21, 2008

following up on _dario and Houstonian's comments, ArtNet indicates that this was a work sold at Christie's of London in late 1997
posted by davemack at 6:22 PM on November 21, 2008

I'm fairly certain that I saw that painting at the Milwaukee art museum in August. Perhaps you could call a curator there and get more info.
posted by special-k at 7:46 PM on November 21, 2008

I'm always amazed at what the hive mind is able to accomplish - thanks guys! I will begin looking at what other art is out there for this time-period/region.
posted by GenTso at 8:42 AM on November 22, 2008