Le Grand Seigneur (The Nobleman), plate 17 from the series Caravanne du Sultan à la Mecque (The Sultan's Caravan to Mecca)
Medium
figures
Classification
figures
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Museum purchase through gift of Eleanor G. Hewitt
Accession Number
1962-195-31
About this artwork
Research in Progress
Art Historical Context
**Le Grand Seigneur (The Noble)**, plate 17 from Joseph Marie Vien's series *avanne du Sultan à Mecque (The Sultan's Caravan to Mecca)*, captures the exotic allure of an imagined Ottoman pilgrimage in 1748. Created the French artist Vien (1716–1809), a key figure bridging Rococo elegance and emerging Neoclassicism, work reflects Europe's growing fascination with Eastern cultures during the Enlightenment. Vien, fresh from his 1743 Prix de Rome win, drew on travel accounts and fantasies of the Orient to depict the grandeur of a sultan's journey to Mecca—a rare visual interpretation of Islamic pi...