Young Ottoman Woman

ArtistThéodore Jacques Ralli

Yearc. 1879

MediumOil on canvas

MovementImpressionism
Orientalism

Young Ottoman Woman
Jeune ottomane (French)
Artist	Théodore Jacques Ralli
Year	c. 1879
Medium	Oil on canvas
Movement	Impressionism Orientalism
Subject	Young Ottoman Woman in a Yashmak
Dimensions	17 cm × 13.5 cm (6.6 in × 5.3 in)
Owner	Private Collector

Young Ottoman Woman was an orientalist impressionist painting created by Greek-French painter Théodore Jacques Ralli. Ralli was an Orientalist, Academic, and Impressionist painter who painted in both the Academic and Impressionist styles. Ralli's works were accepted at the prestigious Paris Salon as early as 1875. Impressionists and Realist painters were rejected by the Paris Salon and held their own exhibition in 1874, attracting only 3,500 visitors while the Paris Salon had 400,000 visitors that same year.^[1][2] Ralli exhibited works at the Paris Salon every year from 1875 to 1909, but also joined the rebellious impressionist art movement by 1878, painting Rastoni, and the following year he painted Young Ottoman Woman. Sadly, his impressionist works do not have an exhibition history, but they were signed and dated by the artist, who also used multiple signatures. The works he submitted to the Paris Salon were of Greek everyday life and Orientalist themes. Ralli was interested in the Impressionist movement, and it motivated him to complete a sizeable catalogue of Impressionist works. Unlike his teacher Gerome, who was loyal to Academic art, Ralli did not remain loyal to one painting style, and art historians have to exercise extreme caution when categorising the painter and his works. ^[3][4][5]

Impressionists Pierre Auguste Renoir and Édouard Manet painted countless portraits of subjects resembling Ralli's works. Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro also painted some portraits, but not at the same volume as Renoir or Manet. Ralli created many orientalist impressionist works, blending his knowledge of Academic art with what he learned from the impressionists. Early on, the new style was unpopular, and Ralli submitted mostly academic works to the Paris Salon, leaving the painter relatively unknown for his contribution to Impressionism. Ralli painted numerous orientalist works featuring women in a facial garment known as the yashmak.^[6] His teacher Jean-Léon Gérôme painted a similar subject known as Woman from Constantinople in 1876 with precise, academic-style brushwork, leaving the painting glass-like. Ralli and his impressionist contemporaries used heavier brushwork indicative of the growing new style. The current painting was last sold in Paris, France, at a Christie's auction called Visions of the Orient: From Orientalism to Contemporary Art on November 4, 2011, to a private collector for 17,500 euros.^[7][8]