Self-portrait in Turkish costume
circa 1750
Meet Jean-Etienne Liotard, the Swiss artist who looked at 18th-century European fashion and said, 'No thanks.' After traveling to Constantinople, he was so captivated by the culture that he stayed for four years, grew this magnificent, flowing beard, and started wearing traditional Turkish robes like the striking red one seen here. He holds a small blue pastel stick in his hand, hinting at his true superpower: he was a master of pastels, creating incredibly lifelike portraits that looked almost like photographs. Europeans were obsessed with the 'exotic' East at the time, and Liotard leaned into it completely, earning the nickname 'the Turkish painter' and shocking high society when he returned to Geneva looking like an Ottoman sultan.
- Technique
- Pastel