Greek Church, Bucharest, Wallachia, July 15, 1837 1839

Auguste Raffet created this lithograph, entitled "Greek Church, Bucharest, Wallachia," in July 1837, a time of significant cultural exchange and political tension in the region. Wallachia, now part of Romania, was then under Ottoman influence, a melting pot of Eastern and Western cultures. Raffet, a French artist known for his military and historical scenes, captures the church with an eye that seems to be both ethnographic and artistic. We see more than just a building; we glimpse a society navigating its identity. The presence of figures in traditional dress alongside the horse-drawn cart suggests a society caught between tradition and modernity. What does it mean to witness a culture through the eyes of an outsider? How do we reconcile the romanticism of the image with the realities of Ottoman rule and the struggles for independence that were brewing in Wallachia at the time? It is an image imbued with the quiet tension of a place on the cusp of change.