Bashi-Bazouk (Jean-Léon Gérôme)

Bashi-Bazouk
French: Bachi-Bouzouk, Bachi-Bouzouk nègre
Artist Jean-Léon Gérôme
Year 1869
Medium Oil on canvas
Dimensions 80.6 cm × 66 cm (31.7 in × 26 in)
Location Metropolitan Museum of Art

Bashi-Bazouk (possibly titled as Bachi-Bouzouk nègre)[1] is a painting by French artist Jean-Léon Gérôme. Done in oil on canvas, the painting depicts a Bashi-bazouk, an irregular soldier of the Ottoman Empire. The painting is currently on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Description

Painted by Jean-Léon Gérôme between 1868 and 1869, the painting depicts a dark-skinned model dressed as a Bashi-bazouk, a levy of irregular Ottoman soldiers infamous for their brutality, looting, and lack of discipline.[2] Gérôme acquired the garb seen in the painting during a trip to the near east in 1868. The haphazard and mixed textiles the model is dressed in is reminiscent of the Bashi-bazouks, as the soldiers were traditionally unpaid and did not adopt a standardized uniform, resulting in the soldiers wearing whatever they could acquire on a march. This a key point of the painting, as the brutal reputation of a Bashi-bazouk is contrasted by the silk tunic, quality clothes, and noble bearing of the subject.[3]

References

  1. ↑ Gerald M. Ackerman. Jean-Léon Gérôme: Monographie révisée, catalogue raisonné mis à jour. 2nd (rev) ed. Paris, 2000, p. 272, n.193, ill. pp. 84
  2. ↑ L. W. (1912-09). "The Articles on Classical Subjects in the Encyclopaedia Britannica The Articles on Classical Subjects in the 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Eleventh Edition. Cambridge University Press, 1911". The Classical Review. 26 (06): 204–205. doi:10.1017/s0009840x00200401. ISSN 0009-840X. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ↑ "Jean-Léon Gérôme |Bashi-Bazouk | The Met". metmuseum.org. Retrieved 2018-07-13.


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