Kopf im Profil nach links aus den _Königinnen zu Füßen Alexanders des Großen_ c. 1661

Charles Le Brun rendered this chalk drawing, “Head in Profile to the Left, from the Queens at the Feet of Alexander the Great,” with striking intensity. The turban, a symbol of the Orient, immediately situates this figure within a narrative steeped in conquest and exoticism. Consider the turban itself – a motif that winds its way through art history, from depictions of Persian dignitaries in Renaissance paintings to its later appropriation in orientalist fantasies. Its presence here evokes a sense of the foreign and the subjugated, yet the man's piercing gaze hints at an inner resilience. Observe how Le Brun captures a raw emotionality. His face, etched with deep lines of worry, is a window into a mind wrestling with complex realities. We are reminded that symbols are not static; their meanings are continuously renegotiated, shaped by the ever-changing tides of history and human experience.