Entertaining the Pasha

The allure of the Middle East had a powerful impact on Julius Berger and his contemporaries Gustav Bauernfiend, Rudolf Ernst and Ludwig Deutsch. This group of Austrian and German artists painted some of the most important Orientalist pictures of the 19th century. In the present picture, Berger presents a provocative view of the interior of a harem. The golden light that imbues the picture and the intermixing of the textures of the silks, carpets and carvings all serve to further the sense of exoticism of this fantasy. The Pasha is perched on a raised divan, watching the two harem beauties as they playfully tease a bird with a feather. The emotive colouration of the picture is reminiscent of Eugène Delacroix's Algerian and Moroccan harem scenes.