Le Garde Maure 

Ludwig Deutsch painted “Le Garde Maure,” or “The Moorish Guard,” during a time when Europe was captivated by Orientalism, a fascination with the “exotic” cultures of North Africa and the Middle East. This painting, like many others from the period, reflects a European fantasy rather than reality. The guard is adorned in meticulously rendered attire, with each piece of his regalia given careful attention. But what does it mean to meticulously render the clothing of a person, while rendering their person secondary? The guard's race and ethnicity mark him as an "other," someone outside the norms of Deutsch's European audience. As a viewer, consider how identity is being both portrayed and perhaps exploited, playing into stereotypes and power dynamics of the time. The painting invites us to consider the gaze, and who it is for.