Head of an Oriental

Discussion

FROM THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART’S CATALOG

As Europeans more actively engaged in sea travel and trade in the 1600s, references to distant locales became popular among artists. This is one of a series of head studies of men in Turkish costume created by Jan Lievens in the 1630s. He sketched this bearded, turbaned man loosely but with precise details, such as the paisley pattern, a traditional Persian design, on his scarf. While making this print, Lievens shared a studio with Rembrandt, and the artists’ shared a mutual emphasis on sketching freely with an etching needle.

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