DANSEUSES AU HAREM

IN COMMON WITH ANTONIO GUARDI, WHO EXECUTED A SERIES OF FORTY-THREE PICTURES BASED ON VANMOUR'S ENGRAVINGS, WILLIAM HOGARTH, THE SOI-DISANT FATHER OF THE ENGLISH SCHOOL OF PAINTING, CAME UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF VANMOUR'S PIONEERING ORIENTALISM EARLY IN HIS CAREER. HIS ENGRAVING AFTER DANSEUSES AU HAREM, EXECUTED AS ONE OF HIS FIRST COMMISSIONS AROUND 1721, WAS PUBLISHED IN AUBREY DE LA MOTRAYE'S TRAVELS THROUGH EUROPE, ASIA, AND INTO PARTS OF AFRICA. 'THE LA MOTRAYE PLATES...ARE IMPORTANT TO HOGARTH'S DEVELOPMENT BECAUSE THEY GAVE HIM A CHANCE TO DEAL WITH CONTEMPORARY (THOUGH FOREIGN AND STRANGE) CUSTOMS IN COMPOSITIONS INVOLVING LARGE GROUPS OF PEOPLE IN ARCHITECTURAL SETTINGS OR CLOSELY REPORTED INTERIORS' (R. PAULSON, HOGARTH: HIS LIFE, ART, AND TIMES, VOL. I, LONDON, 1971, P. 79).

THE PRESENT WORK APPEARS TO BE A LATE EIGHTEENTH OR EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY COPY AFTER VANMOUR'S DANSEUSES AU HAREM (SEE A. BOPPE, LES PEINTURES DU BOSPHORE AU XVIIIE SIèCLE, PARIS, 1989, P. 50).