Cicle of  Joseph Marie Vien. The painter Clément dresed as the Prestre de la Loy. photo Sotheby's

oil on canvas. 42 by 31.5cm., 16½ by 12½in. Lot 229. ESTIMATION 30,000-40,000 GBP

EXHIBITED: Turkophilia, Paris 2011

LITTERATURE: Paris 2011, p. 90

NOTE DE CATALOGUE: This work relates to the print Prestre de la Loy from the series Caravanne du Sultan à la Mecque, published in 1749, which included thirty prints by Vien. As Vien explained in his dedication page, he took inspiration from the Ottoman costumes worn at Carnival in Rome in 1748. The series includes figures dressed as janissaries, eunuchs, ambassadors, and Sultanas.

A preparatory drawing by Vien for the print, with the composition reversed, is in the Musée du Petit Palais, Paris.

Sotheby's. An Eye For Opulence- Art of the Ottoman Empire. Londres | 24 avr. 2012, 02:30 PM www. sothebys.com