The figure depicted here is a mercenary of the Ottoman Empire. The Turkish term for him is bashi-bazouk, which translates as “headless.” These men fought for plunder, an association that gave Bargue license to employ his virtuosic painting technique to paint finery such as the silk garments and narghile, or water pipe.
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[Goupil & Cie, Paris, 1875; stock no. 10440; purchased from the artist on July 11, for Fr 15,000; sold on November 4, for Fr 21,600, to Wolfe]; Catharine Lorillard Wolfe, New York (1875–d. 1887)
New York. National Academy of Design. "Pedestal Fund Art Loan Exhibition," December 3, 1883–January 1, 1884, no. 17 (as "Bazi-Bazouk in a Turkish Cafe," lent by Miss Catharine Wolfe).
Providence. Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design. "French Painting in Africa," April 4–28, 1935, no. 1.
Rochester, N.Y. Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester. "Orientalism: The Near East in French Painting 1800–1880," August 27–October 17, 1982, no. 3.
Neuberger Museum, State University of New York at Purchase. "Orientalism: The Near East in French Painting 1800–1880," November 14–December 23, 1982, no. 3.
Southampton, N.Y. Parrish Art Museum. "In Support of Liberty: European Paintings at the 1883 Pedestal Fund Art Loan Exhibition," June 29–September 1, 1986, no. 1.
New York. National Academy of Design. "In Support of Liberty: European Paintings at the 1883 Pedestal Fund Art Loan Exhibition," September 18–December 7, 1986, no. 1.
Amsterdam. Van Gogh Museum. "Theo van Gogh," June 24–September 5, 1999, no. 2.
Paris. Musée d'Orsay. "Theo van Gogh: Marchand de tableaux, collectionneur, frère de Vincent," September 27, 1999–January 9, 2000, no. 2.
New York. Dahesh Museum of Art. "Charles Bargue: The Art of Drawing," November 25, 2003–February 8, 2004, no. 33.
THIS WORK MAY NOT BE LENT.
Edward Strahan [Earl Shinn], ed. The Art Treasures of America. Philadelphia, [1880], vol. 1, p. 134.
Mariana Griswold Van Rensselaer. "The Wolfe Collection. News and Notes." Independent 39 (December 1, 1887), p. 7, calls it "truly marvelous, an absolutely perfect piece of work in its own way".
Montezuma [Montague Marks]. "My Note Book." Art Amateur 16 (May 1887), p. 122.
Walter Rowlands. "The Miss Wolfe Collection." Art Journal, n.s., (January 1889), p. 14, considers its brushwork superior to that of Gérôme.
Sophia Antoinette Walker. "Fine Arts: The Painting Master in the Wolfe Collection." Independent 46 (August 2, 1894), p. 12, erroneously states that it was purchased at the artist's posthumous sale.
"The Metropolitan Museum of Art—The French Painters." New York Times (May 22, 1895), p. 4.
Arthur Hoeber. The Treasures of The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York. New York, 1899, pp. 81–82.
Josephine L. Allen and Elizabeth E. Gardner. A Concise Catalogue of the European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1954, p. 7.
Charles Sterling and Margaretta M. Salinger. French Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 2, XIX Century. New York, 1966, p. 169, ill.
Anne Poulet in "Turquerie." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 26 (January 1968), p. 237, fig. 67.
Gerald M. Ackerman inThe Other Nineteenth Century: Paintings and Sculpture in the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph M. Tanenbaum. Ed. Louise d'Argencourt and Douglas Druick. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Canada. Ottawa, 1978, p. 40, notes that Bargue painted several images of single Bashi-Bazouks, including one in the Tanenbaum collection (Sotheby's, New York, May 5, 1999, no. 229, bought in); observes that the anatomy of the figure in our painting is convincing even though it is distorted; states that the Bashi-Bazouks "were irregular troops attached to the Ottoman army, . . . much feared for their ferocity . . . who could dress as they pleased—usually gaudily".
Donald A. Rosenthal. Orientalism: The Near East in French Painting 1800–1880. Exh. cat., Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester. Rochester, N.Y., 1982, pp. 78, 82–83, 160, no. 3, fig. 78.
Maureen C. O'Brien in Maureen C. O'Brien. In Support of Liberty: European Paintings at the 1883 Pedestal Fund Art Loan Exhibition. Exh. cat., Parrish Art Museum. Southampton, N.Y., 1986, pp. 24, 32, 95, 130, no. 1, ill. p. 130 and colorpl. I, remarks that it was one of the few Orientalist subjects in the 1883 exhibition.
Mahonri Sharp Young. "Letter from the USA: The Pedestal." Apollo 124 (July 1986), p. 51, fig. 4.
The Forbes Magazine Collection of Orientalist Paintings, Drawings, Watercolors and Sculpture. Christie's, New York. October 14, 1993, p. 126, under no. 255, reproduces a replica of our painting, dated 1878, attributed to Bargue.
Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 436, ill.
Belinda Thomson. "Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum: Theo van Gogh." Burlington Magazine 141 (September 1999), p. 567, fig. 63.
Richard Thomson inTheo van Gogh: Marchand de tableaux, collectionneur, frère de Vincent. Exh. cat., Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam. Paris, 1999, pp. 74, 76, 209, no. 2, colorpl. 62, erroneously states that it was "G 16637" in the Bargue studio sale and was bought by Boulevard Montmartre (Theo van Gogh) for Fr 50 on June 1, 1883 and sold by him on October 16 for Fr 600 to Desfossés.
Gerald M. Ackerman. Charles Bargue, with the Collaboration of Jean-Léon Gérôme:Drawing Course. Exh. cat., Dahesh Museum of Art, New York. Paris, 2003, pp. 275–76, 296–97, no. 33, ill. (color), mentions two copies of this painting (see Ref. Christie's 1993; Sotheby's, London, May 1, 2002, no. 330, sold as by C. Baird, and dated 1807) and a pencil study for the model's right arm (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston).
19th Century European Art. Christie's, New York. October 27, 2004, p. 44, under no. 40, fig. 1, catalogues a study for this painting, also signed and dated 1875 [withdrawn from the sale].
Dalila Meenen. "L'Orient américain: La figure de l'Amérindien entre transpositions iconographiques et discours impérialistes." Revue de l'art no. 22 (April 2023), pp. 28, 31 n. 36, notes that the painting would have been known to George de Forest Brush, as it was in American collections from the early 1870s on.
Two signed replicas of this painting, one dated 1878 and the other 1875, have appeared in Christie's, New York, sales as studies for The Met's painting (October 14, 1993, no. 255 and October 27, 2004, no. 40). Another version, attributed to C. Baird and dated 1807, was sold at Sotheby's, London, May 1, 2002, no. 330.
A pencil study for the right arm of the model is in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
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