Fotoreproductie van een schilderij, voorstellende een portret van een onbekende vrouw met een fez before 1888

This photogravure of a painting depicting an unknown woman with a fez was created at an unknown date by an anonymous artist. The image appears to be an illustration from a book. The woman's exoticized attire evokes the visual codes of Orientalism, a Western fantasy of the "East" that was very popular in Europe in the 19th century. It’s worth remembering that “Orientalism” was also tied to the social and political history of colonialism and imperialism. Representations of people from other parts of the world were never simply neutral records, but were always involved in complex power dynamics. Who is doing the representing? Who is being represented? And what assumptions are being made by both parties? These are crucial questions for the cultural historian. To more fully understand this image, we would need to research the original painting, the book in which it was published, and the broader context of Orientalist imagery in European culture.