Beklaagde aan zijn rechters voorgeleid 1782

This delicate etching, ‘Beklaagde aan zijn rechters voorgeleid’ or ‘Accused brought before his judges,’ was made by Adam von Bartsch. Bartsch lived in Vienna and was director of the Habsburg collection of prints and drawings. Bartsch’s print presents us with a scene of judgement. The accused stands before a group of men; some are seated, all are wearing turbans or hats to indicate their authority. This is probably intended to depict a scene from the Ottoman Empire, which would have been familiar to Bartsch’s Austrian audience. The print relates to a larger tradition of orientalist art: depictions of the ‘Orient’ by Western artists. This was often associated with European colonialism and shaped by a sense of cultural superiority. Von Bartsch’s employment by the Habsburgs places the print within an institutional context which is important for our understanding of it. Historians can reflect on the way in which the Ottomans were perceived in eighteenth-century Vienna, using resources like diplomatic archives and newspapers. Through understanding more about the historical context of a work like this, we gain a better idea of its role in wider patterns of cultural exchange and political power.