Jean-Etienne Liotard: A Frankish Woman and Her Servant (1750)

(The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, USA)

A painting by the Swiss-French artist Jean-Etienne Liotard (1702-1789). Liotard stayed in Constantinople for 4 years (1738-42) and made lots of drawing and paintings of the people there. This painting shows a woman (described by Liotard as "Frankish",of European ancestry) in a Turkish costume. She holds a long chibouk (smoking pipe) and is walking on platform shoes to protect her feet from the wet floors in this Turkish public bathhouse. Painting from 1750.