Choosing the Favourite 

Giulio Rosati painted "Choosing the Favourite" during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, an era marked by European colonial expansion and fascination with the "Orient." Rosati, like many artists of his time, never actually visited the Middle East but painted scenes from his imagination, fueled by Orientalist fantasies. This work offers a glimpse into the male gaze and the construction of the "Orient" as a space of exoticism and eroticism. The women are presented as objects of desire, their bodies on display for the male figures who seem to be assessing them. This painting is not just an aesthetic exercise but a cultural artifact that reflects and perpetuates power dynamics. The identities of the women are subsumed under a generalized and exoticized notion of the "Orient," erasing their individuality and agency. "Choosing the Favourite" leaves us to ponder the complex interplay between art, power, and representation, and the ways in which images can both reflect and shape our understanding of the world.