Sultane Blanche and Le Grand Visir (White Sultaness and The Grand Vizir), from the series "Caravane du Sultan à la Mecque..." (Caravan of a Sultan Going to Mecca)
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
sheet: 7 15/16 x 5 1/4 in. (20.1 x 13.4 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1933
Accession Number
33.104.2536
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the exotic world of 18th European imagination with *Sultane Blanche and Grand Visir* (White Sultaness and The Grand Vizir), an etching by French artist Joseph Marie Vien from his 1748 series *Caravane du Sultan à Mecque...* (Caravan of a Going to Mecca). Created when Vien was in his early 30s, shortly after winning the prestigious Prix de Rome, this print (7 15/16 x 5 1/4 in.) captures figures from an Ottoman pilgrimage procession, blending fantasy with fascination for the Islamic world. Vien's work reflects the era's Orientalist craze, fueled by Enlightenment curiosity about distan...
About the Artist
Joseph Marie Vien · 1716–1809
Baroque painter and one of the earliest French painters to work in the Neo-classical style. He influenced some of the most prominent artists of heroic Neo-classicism, including his students Jacques-Louis David, Jean-Baptiste Regnault, Jean-François-Pierre Peyron, and Joseph-Benoît Suvée. Comment on works: History