{"id":4958,"date":"2023-05-22T21:54:11","date_gmt":"2023-05-22T19:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/?p=4958"},"modified":"2024-02-23T15:09:44","modified_gmt":"2024-02-23T14:09:44","slug":"elisabeth-jerichau-baumann-sapphic-orientalism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/en\/elisabeth-jerichau-baumann-sapphic-orientalism\/","title":{"rendered":"Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann
Sapphic Orientalism"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Fig.1. Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann, The Princess Nazili Hanum<\/em>, 1875. Oil on canvas, 132 x 158 cm, Private collection, Photo: Sotheby\u2019s, Paris. Public domain.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

She was half hidden by the blue hangings garnished with costly guipure on a lovely carved ebony bed, which stood on a dais. For me she was unforgettable. In these forget-me-not coloured, aromatic surroundings Nazili lay on the soft pillow, her fragrant hair encircling her face like a halo.1<\/a><\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The painter Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann (Polish-Danish; 1819-1881) wrote the sensual description in the above epigraph in her travelogue Motley Images of Travel<\/em> (Brogede Rejsebilleder<\/em>, 1881), which offered an assortment of recollections from the artist\u2019s travels through the Mediterranean region from 1869 to 1875. The artist was recalling a formative encounter in Constantinople in 1869 with one of her most significant models, the Egyptian-Ottoman princess Zainab Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m (1853-1913).th<\/sup>-century European Orientalism,\u201d quoted by Jerzy Miskowiak in Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann<\/em> (Przemys\u0142owa, Poland: Bosz, 2020), 142.; Conventionally referred to in past literature as \u201cNazl\u0131,\u201d Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m\u2019s full name is used throughout this text for the purpose of preserving historical consistency while maintaining equal respect given to all other individuals referred to by last name in this text. This style choice was also used by Reina Lewis in \u201cSapphism and the Seraglio: Reflections on the Queer Female Gaze and Orientalism,\u201d in Orientalism, Eroticism and Modern Visuality in Global Cultures<\/em>, ed. Joan DelPlato, and Julie F. Codell (New York: Routledge, 2016) 163-180.\">2<\/a><\/sup> As an established artist of European royalty and elite Danish society, Jerichau-Baumann used her social network to gain access to princess Zainab Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m\u2019s royal family, where her gender enabled her to secure entry to the restricted realm of the harem. Jerichau-Baumann traveled through Turkey, Greece, and Egypt, depicting individuals across social strata in a series of \u201cOrientalist\u201d portraits. The terms \u201cOrientalist\u201d and \u201cOrientalism\u201d are used throughout this text to refer to the historical genre of art popularized in the 19th century which derived from the Western vision of the \u201cOrient\u201d\u2014 an outdated term historically used to refer to present-day Turkey, Greece, the Arabian Peninsula, and North Africa. The objective in using the terminology here is to more precisely identify and critique the genre.Orientalism<\/em> (Pantheon Book: New York, 1978)\">3<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Within this body of portraits, it is Jerichau-Baumann\u2019s eroticized images of women that particularly demand further study, given how they subverted conventional expectations around gender, subject matter, and sexuality in the genre of Orientalist art.<\/p>\n

Jerichau-Baumann\u2019s written evocation of Nazl\u0131\u2019s modeling session seems to directly reference the scene she painted in The Princess Nazili Hanum <\/em>(1875) [fig.1], where Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m appears as a reclining odalisque in a harem. The artist\u2019s textual description corresponds to several elements in the painting, including the blue hangings, the forget-me-not flowers, and the subject\u2019s head on a pillow, encircled by her hair. The sexual overtones in Jerichau-Baumann\u2019s written description of Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m as \u201cunforgettable\u201d as she \u201clay on the soft pillow\u201d are carried over into her painting in such a way that makes it difficult to dismiss Jerichau-Baumann\u2019s words as merely florid language emptied of erotic potential.,<\/em> 26.\">4<\/a><\/sup> Jerichau-Baumann\u2019s inclusion of the figure of a Black woman\u2014identified in the text as Lalla\u2014heightens the eroticism of the scene by creating a complex triangulation between artist and models. The artist\u2019s idealization of Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m as an angel with hair like a halo are contrasted with a description of Lalla, who is unfavorably compared to a watchful dog.5<\/a><\/sup> This racialized dichotomy of good versus evil encapsulates the duality of desire imposed with repulsion, of association and repudiation, and the erotic tension of subordination and intimacy that permeated Orientalist art.th<\/sup>-and 20th<\/sup>-century modern art see Denise Murrell, Posing Modernity: The Black Model from Manet and Matisse to Today<\/em> (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2018).\">6<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Jerichau-Baumann wrote and published her self-mythologizing travelogue over a decade after the fact, and aptly refers to them as her \u201cmotley\u201d recollections. She wrote in a style typical of Western travel literature of the time, with the aim to entertain more than to educate.Victorian Literature and Culture<\/em> 38, no. 1 (2010).\">7<\/a><\/sup> And although Jerichau-Baumann\u2019s descriptions of her model\u2014one written, the other painted\u2014 can read as semi-apocryphal and hyperbolic, the fantasy stemmed from a veritable relationship between Jerichau-Baumann and Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m, confirmed through years of personal letters, that extended beyond the sensationalism of Orientalism. Unlike Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres\u2019s La Grande Odalisque<\/em> (1814), with her impossible bodily proportions, Jerichau-Baumann created a portrait of a real woman, borne from an actual encounter.La Grande Odalisque<\/em> (1814) was in fact commissioned by a woman, Caroline Murat, Napoleon\u2019s sister and the Queen of Naples. See Carol Ockman, “A Woman’s Pleasure: The Grande Odalisque,” in Ingres’s Eroticized Bodies: Retracing the Serpentine Line,<\/em> (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1995), 33-65.\">8<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

What motivated Jerichau-Baumann to produce this portrait of Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m, and similar works of erotic portraiture of women? Were they simply paintings that catered to male Orientalist fantasies?\u00a0 Or does Jerichau-Baumann\u2019s identity as a woman require the work to be read differently? And to what extent was Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m a knowing or unknowing participant in the artist\u2019s exoticizing invention?<\/p>\n

Despite Jerichau-Baumann\u2019s repeated exploration of the subject of hyper-sexualized women, most historians have been reluctant to give serious consideration to the possible queer associations present in her work. Beginning in the mid-2000s, art historians Mary Roberts and Julia Kuehn each examined Jerichau-Baumann\u2019s life and work through a feminist lens and have been instrumental in bringing attention to her artistic contribution. It was not until 2016 that art historian Reina Lewis introduced the concept of the queer female gaze in associated with Jerichau-Baumann who she touched on in her text \u201cSapphism and the Seraglio: Reflections on the Queer Female Gaze and Orientalism.\u201d Lewis identified the topic as a gap in the literature and has suggested a need for further exploration of this topic, from which this paper takes guidance from.9<\/a><\/sup><\/a> More recently in 2021, the ARoS museum in Aarhus Denmark dedicated a comprehensive monographic exhibition. The accompanying catalogue with articles by Sine Krogh and Anna Rebecca Kledal explores her complex national identity and role as a female artist, but do not contend with her queerness.Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann Mellem verdener \/ Between Worlds <\/em>(Aarhus, Denmark: ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum, 2021.\">10<\/a><\/sup> In addition to the catalogue article, Kledal also published the book Kunstmaleren og prinsessen. Elisabeth Jerichau Baumanns m\u00f8de med prinsesse Nazili<\/em> (2021),\u00a0 which outlines the strong socio-political undercurrents of the relationship between Baumann and Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m. While Kledal argues effectively for the roles both women played in the support of women\u2019s equality and social reform, there is no consideration for the queerness embedded in their political activisms.Kunstmaleren og prinsessen. Elisabeth Jerichau Baumanns m\u00f8de med prinsesse Nazili<\/em> (Aarhus Universitetsforlag, 2021).\">11<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Roberts has attributed Jerichau-Baumann\u2019s sensuous treatment of her female models to the \u201ccitational nature of orientalism\u201d and the artist\u2019s \u201cfinancial motivations,\u201d suggesting that Jerichau-Baumann was copying her male counterparts with an eye toward the market. Roberts also asserts that the portraits of Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m exhibited in Europe were shown without her model\u2019s consent, suggesting a relationship between artist and model that rested primarily on antipathy and exploitation.Intimate Outsiders: The Harem in Ottoman and Orientalist Art and Travel Literature<\/em> (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2007), 80.\">12<\/a><\/sup> Jerichau-Baumann often did make market-driven adaptations in her work and likely pursued Orientalist themes with the goal of sales, however, it is improbable that the market alone accounts for her interest in this genre. This narrative dismisses the creative and sexual agency of both model and artist.<\/p>\n

The paintings of Jerichau-Baumann warrant reconsideration through a queer and postcolonial theoretical framework, to challenge the prevailing assumption that Jerichau-Baumann\u2019s sexualized portraits were mainly financially motivated imitations of the work of her male contemporaries and that Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m was ignorant of these works or would have disapproved of them. Evidence of the queer female gaze, expressed in Jerichau-Baumann\u2019s paintings, travelogue, and letters points to another dimension of Orientalism, one which allows for a less subjugating and more collaborative\u2014or in any case, a more complex\u2014relationship between\u00a0 Western artist and non-Western model. The \u201cmale gaze\u201d is a term coined in 1975 by Laura Mulvey to describe the way in which film depicts the world from the point of view of a straight man, reducing women to sexual objects, assigning them to roles that serve only to fulfill men\u2019s desires and narratives, the \u201cqueer female gaze\u201d by contrast casts an eroticized view while emphasizing the model\u2019s agency.13<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

The intent here is not to anachronistically prove that Jerichau-Baumann or her models would have identified as a lesbian or gay individual: this is not only unverifiable but is also complicated by the lack of social acceptance around homosexuality at that time or an available language to convey same-sex desire. Furthermore, queerness is linked to, but not defined by sexual orientation, and encompasses a broad range of identities and practices that exist outside of the parameters of heteronomativity which relies on a set binary of gender roles. Judith Butler’s theory of gender performativity is helpful in understanding this distinction. Butler defines gender as an artificial construct, a learned behavior dictated by society, and performed by the individual. Jerichau-Baumann’s queerness in this sense is not reliant on sexuality, but grounded in her deviation from the prescribed gender script.Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity<\/em> (New York: Routledge, 1990\">14<\/a><\/sup> Acknowledging the potentially queer associations does not erase the inherently problematic nature of Orientalism. While remaining cognizant of these disparities, this article aims to offer a broadened understanding of Jerichau-Baumann that explores her use of the queer female gaze and connects her work to a wider lineage of queer history that is entangled in the legacy of Orientalism.15<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Siren Roots <\/strong><\/h2>\n

Jerichau-Baumann began her artistic training at the D\u00fcsseldorf Academy of Art (ca. 1840-1845), garnering sincere yet also pejorative praise from fellow artist Peter von Cornelius who proclaimed \u201cshe is the only real man in the D\u00fcsseldorf school.\u201d Folkekalender for Danmark <\/em>3 Aargang (1854): 83, trans. by Julia Kuehn in \u2018Egypt 1870,\u2019 Victorian Literature and Culture<\/em> 38, no. 1 (2010): 257.\">16<\/a><\/sup> She excelled in commissioned portraiture, and, with a varying degree of success, a form of patriotic romanticism. As a German-educated immigrant, Jerichau-Baumann\u2019s work was met with divided opinions. Her style and subject matter appeared in Denmark to be decidedly German and was not received well in the wake of the First Schleswig War of 1848-1850 which spurred anti-German sentiment in Denmark.Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann Mellem verdener \/ Between Worlds<\/em> (Aarhus, Denmark: ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum, 2021), 38-47.\">17<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

\"\"
Fig.2. Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann, A Wounded Danish Soldier<\/em>, 1865. Oil on canvas, 107 x 142.5 cm, National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen. Photo: Public domain.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Some of Jerichau-Baumann\u2019s attempts, however, appealed to her Danish audience such as an 1851 personification of Denmark, Mother Denmark,<\/em> which became a famous national emblem; and her Wounded Danish Soldier, <\/em>(1865) [fig.2] which was acquired by the National Gallery of Denmark the year after its creation. These idealized, narrative scenes were almost uniformly executed in an academic style with precise naturalistic detail.<\/p>\n

For other themes that were perhaps more daring and held more personal interest, the artist\u2019s brushwork was looser and more energetic. Exemplifying this shift in style are Jerichau-Baumann\u2019s siren paintings. As early as the 1860s, she began depicting a series of bare-chested mermaids: mythological creatures who symbolized the lure of desire and the dangerous power of feminine seduction. She painted Mermaid <\/em>(ca. 1860-1861) [fig.3] while in Rome, and commissioned the gilded marine-themed frame complete with seashells for the painting\u2019s display at the 1861 Paris Salon.18<\/a><\/sup> The siren paintings anticipate the artist\u2019s later interest in the enticing charm of the similarly mythologized (and purportedly less civilized) sexually liberated women of the inaccessible and mysterious harem.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Fig.3. Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann, Mermaid<\/em>, ca. 1860-1861. Oil on canvas, 114.3 x 149.86 cm, Private collection. Photo: Public domain.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The theme of the mermaid was popularized in Denmark thanks to Hans Christian Andersen\u2019s classic\u00a0 The Little Mermaid<\/em> (1837). Andersen was a close friend to Jerichau-Baumann and later authored her biography. The painter’s mermaids appear to be an interpretation of Andersen\u2019s fable, which caused the writer to exclaim upon seeing her canvases: \u201cThe Mermaid is absolutely spot on.\u201dDzienniki 1825-1875,<\/em> trans. and ed. B. Socha\u0144ska (Poznan, Poland: Media Rodzina, 2014), 406\">19<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0Andersen may have appreciated Jerichau-Baumann\u2019s characterization of the mermaid because of how well she visually translated the Orientalist elements of The Little Mermaid<\/em>. In the story, Andersen describes the sea castle in such a way that recalls Eastern architecture. The lazy disposition of the fantastical city\u2019s inhabitants also mirrors the prejudiced Western conception of what was imagined to be the leisurely lifestyle of Eastern people. The world of the sea becomes a metaphor for the unbridgeable differences between worlds of East and West: alluring, but fundamentally different and inherently dangerous. Jerichau-Baumann manifests this idea in her mermaids by posing them as lounging odalisques set against an enchanting sky. Jerichau-Baumann would repeat this convention in her future portrayals of Eastern women.<\/p>\n

Another layer of interest is the queer subtext embedded in Andersen\u2019s The Little Mermaid<\/em>. Andersen remained unmarried throughout his life and had apparently unrequited romantic feelings for his friend Edvard Collin (1808\u20131886).Strangers: Homosexual Love in the 19th Century<\/em> (London: Picador, 2003).\">20<\/a><\/sup> Andersen\u2019s fairy tale has been interpreted as a veiled autobiographical account of his own doomed love for Collin who, much like Ariel\u2019s prince, was fated to marry a princess, leaving Andersen (and his mute protagonist) to suffer in silence. Letters declaring Andersen\u2019s feelings for Collin, and the fact that the story was published only one year after Collin\u2019s wedding, all lend credence to this analysis.My Dear Boy: Gay Love Letters Through the Centuries<\/em> (San Francisco: Leyland Publications, 1998), 129. \">21<\/a><\/sup> As a friend of the writer, Jerichau-Baumann may have been more sensitive to Andersen\u2019s queer coding of The Little Mermaid<\/em> and was able to visually reinterpret the intention in her own work by applying a queer female gaze when she traveled outside of Europe.<\/p>\n

Lalla and Princess <\/strong>Nazl\u0131<\/strong> Han\u0131m<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In 1869-1870, and again in 1874-1875, Jerichau-Baumann, accompanied by one of her sons, traveled to Turkey, Greece, and Egypt with the purpose of seeking out Orientalist themes to inspire her work. In describing her first meeting with Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m, Jerichau-Baumann wrote to her husband \u201cYesterday I fell in love with a beautiful Turkish princess,\u201d and called her \u201cthe star of my Oriental dreams.\u201d22<\/a><\/sup> From these experiences emerged Jerichau-Baumann\u2019s embellished travelogue and Orientalist paintings, which provide written and visual evidence to confirm the artist\u2019s independent amorous sensitivity to her model. Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m was also immediately drawn to Jerichau-Baumann, and returned her affections in letters beginning from the time they met in 1869. In November of that year Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m responded to her \u201cAs I know your time is very precious since you must have so much to see and do in Constantinople, and that tomorrow you have some time\u2026I write to say I should be most happy to see you and give you the note of introduction I promised to my cousins in Egypt.\u201d She readily assisted Jerichau-Baumann in networking with her family in Egypt where she was headed next. Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m also eagerly offers to meet another day \u201cif you prefer a visit all to yourself.\u201d23<\/a><\/sup> She later wrote to Jerichau-Baumann confiding her feelings on marrying Halil \u015eerif Pasha (commonly known as Khalil Bey; 1831 \u2013 1879), \u201cYou speak of my marriage, I feel the warmth of all you say\u2026but as yet only the preliminary arrangements are made, and we do not know when it will take place. You understand enough of the etiquette of Turkish life to know that I have never even seen the prince\u2026 if I do go to Egypt as his wife the first thing I shall think of is to invite you, my dearest friend and your daughter to come and stay with me.\u201d24<\/a><\/sup> Clearly, the two women established a strong bond from the beginning, one which was important enough for Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m to maintain, even if she were to get married.<\/p>\n

At least three oil-on-canvas portraits of Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m were produced during her first visit to Constantinople in 1869-1870. One portrait was given to princess Alexandra of Wales (later Queen of the United Kingdom; 1844 \u20131925), whose letter of introduction made the sitting possible; the second remained with Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m; and the third Jerichau-Baumann kept for herself.25<\/a><\/sup> It is unclear if the work Jerichau-Baumann kept, which she described as being in \u201ctrue harem costume,\u201d,<\/em> 24\">26<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0is the painting now titled The <\/em>Princess Nazili Hanum<\/em>, perhaps dated to 1875 after being reworked following the artist\u2019s second visit to Egypt.The Favourite of the Harem <\/em>and claims it was the same work started by Jerichau-Baumann in 1869 and exhibited in 1871 in London; Miskowiak, 2020, 146.\">27<\/a><\/sup> Likely, sittings during her second visit did occur, as Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m wrote to confirm that she \u201cshall be happy to give you sittings on the days you name.\u201d28<\/a><\/sup> In any case, Jerichau-Baumann exhibited the portrait she kept\u2014under the title The Favourite of the Hareem<\/em>\u2014at New Bond Street Gallery in London in 1871. A review of the exhibition characterized the painting as a \u201cveritable study from Oriental life\u201d and, \u201cthe size of life.\u201d This suggests that the thematically grand, and physically large-scale (over 1.5 meters wide) Princess Nazili Hanum<\/em> and The Favourite of the Hareem <\/em>could be one in the same painting.Art Journal, <\/em>vol. 33 1871, 165.\">29<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

\"\"
Fig.1. Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann, The Princess Nazili Hanum<\/em>, 1875. Oil on canvas, 132 x 158 cm, Private collection, Photo: Sotheby\u2019s, Paris. Public domain.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Fig.4.
Fig.4. \u00c9douard Manet, Olympia<\/em>, 1863. Oil on canvas, 130.5 x 191 cm, \u00a9 Mus\u00e9e d’Orsay, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais \/ Patrice Schmidt.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jerichau-Baumann\u2019s The Princess Nazili Hanum <\/em>depicts Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m reclining in an immense swath of patterned textiles. Despite not being a nude, the contours of the princess\u2019s body are well articulated under her clinging fabric. Jerichau-Baumann\u2019s inclusion of a second woman, presumed to be Lalla, functions as a device commonly used by male Orientalists like Jean-L\u00e9on G\u00e9r\u00f4me (1824\u20131905) or \u00c9douard Debat-Ponsan (1847\u20131913) in their harem bathing or massage scenes: the inclusion of a woman with dark Black skin serves as a contrast to the porcelain whiteness of their mistress. As Linda Nochlin explained in her text The Imaginary Orient<\/em>, there is often an implied lesbian subtext between the passive mistress and active servant, typically portrayed through racial and class differences in Orientalist art.Art in America <\/em>71, no. 5 (May 1983): 126.\">30<\/a><\/sup> In addition to the Orientalist grooming scenes, Manet\u2019s Olympia <\/em>(1863), made famous by the Paris Salon of 1865, also makes use of this trope [fig.4].Olympia<\/em>, Victorine Meurent was believed to be a lesbian, who remained unmarried and lived with her female partner for her entire life. See Eunice Lipton, Alias Olympia: A Woman\u2019s Search for Manet\u2019s Notorious Model and Her Own Desire <\/em>(New York: Scribner, 1992).\">31<\/a><\/sup> It is possible that Jerichau-Baumann would have seen, or at least been familiar with Manet\u2019s work prior to completing her own portrait, and been inspired to picture Lalla with a bouquet of flowers, just as Manet had done with the Black female figure in Olympia<\/em>. Jerichau-Baumann, however, elevates the erotic potential of the picture by including Lalla not only to present the flowers to Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m, but also to actively shower her body with soft petals of forget-me-nots from overhead while Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m languishes below.<\/p>\n

In a relaxed posture, Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m presents herself unabashedly in the painting, and her intent forward gaze hints at the presence of another observer in addition to Lalla: the painting\u2019s viewer. There are several more indicators of an implied viewer\u2019s presence just outside the frame of the canvas. Not only is the viewer met with Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m\u2019s sultry gaze, but the small monkey also warily regards the intruder, much like the cat in Manet\u2019s Olympia<\/em>. Additionally, both animals have signifying potential as sexual symbols.Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies<\/em>\u00a032, no. 2 (2011): 52.\">32<\/a><\/sup> The delicate gold tray in front of Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m holds two cups, suggesting the beverage is intended to be shared. On the lip of the tray rests a still-lit cigarette, which one can conclude the model has just set down, evidenced by the barely discernible wisps of smoke trailing from her lips, bent in an alluring smile. Many of these details have traditionally been used as artistic devices to invoke the presence of an implied male gaze. Here, however, this masculine invention is undermined and redirected through the bold, red signature, declaring in sizable letters beneath Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m\u2019s feet: \u201cElisabeth Jerichau Baumann Stambul 1875<\/em>.\u201d The artist\u2019s signature in this case serves as an unmistakable marker of a female gaze, thwarting any pretense of the subjecting male gaze. Interestingly, it appears that her signature was at one time erased and reapplied in her hand just below the original.Elisabeth Jerichau Baumann Stambul 1875,<\/em>\u00a0on an old signature and a date [partially erased date not visible to the author in high-resolution image] 1875 partially erased,\u201d from Lot 79, Regards Sur L\u2019Orient-Orientalist Paintings and Sculptures and Islamic Art, 23 October 2014, Paris.\">33<\/a><\/sup> While the explanation for this correction is difficult to ascertain, it may support the idea that Jerichau-Baumann started and signed the work in 1869-1870 while in Constantinople (known at that time as Stambul), then made revisions after she saw Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m during her second trip, and subsequently resigned the updated work in 1875. Nevertheless, Jerichau-Baumann\u2019s resolution to include her name remains clear.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Fig.5. Detail of Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann, The Princess Nazili Hanum<\/em>, 1875. Oil on canvas, 132 x 158 cm, Private collection, Photo: Sotheby\u2019s, Paris. Photo Public domain.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Despite the unmistakable eroticized nature of Jerichau-Baumann\u2019s Orientalist paintings, scholars have been quick to rationalize them as mere imitations of works by her male contemporaries. This tendency to deny women artists sexual agency is at odds with the relative ease that scholars seem to have with associating homoeroticism with male artists. For instance, Joseph Boone\u2019s The Homoerotics of Orientalism<\/em> (2015) provides scores of homoerotic readings of Orientalist art, yet only the homoerotic practices of men in these regions are represented.The Homoerotics of Orientalism<\/em> (New York: Columbia University Press, 2015).\">34<\/a><\/sup> In my view, the erasures of female sexual agency seem to stem from a social-constructed predisposition to assign heterosexuality to women.<\/p>\n

Jerichau-Baumann\u2019s work was clearly influenced by the hyper-sexualized Orientalist tropes of artists such as Delacroix, Ingres, and G\u00e9r\u00f4me. Undeniably the artist repeated motifs such as the reclining \u201codalisque\u201d that reaffirm Western stereotypes of the harem fantasy. Yet the dynamic is complicated when the traditional eroticizing male gaze is supplanted with an equally eroticizing female gaze taken from real-life experiences. Orientalism offered Jerichau-Baumann a veil of ethnographic conventions which allowed her to navigate the otherwise immoral field of homoerotic portrayal. Her sexualized paintings of women could be simultaneously understood as catering to the expectations of a Western audience while also acting as documentary records of another culture to which she had exclusive access.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Fig.6. P. Sebah: Princess Nazli Hanum, carte de visite <\/em>(n.d.), Private collection, Denmark. Reproduced in Orientalism, Eroticism and Modern Visuality in Global Cultures<\/em>, ed. Joan DelPlato, and Julie F. Codell (New York: Routledge,\u00a02016), 149.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m\u2019s Cultural Hybridity <\/strong><\/h2>\n

Jerichau-Baumann\u2019s \u2018harem\u2019 paintings have an advantage over those of her male contemporaries such as Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780-1867) or Alexandre Cabanel (1823-1889), in that her paintings own an enhanced sense of authenticity thanks to her first-hand access to women-dominated spaces and her engagement with specific models. Broadly defined, a harem is the private quarters of a household reserved for women and children, and did not resemble the Western conception of a hidden world of excess and sexual deviance. While the male-dominated genre of Orientalism tended to characterize these spaces as existing in a vacuum, unadulterated by the influences of the West, Jerichau-Baumann\u2019s observations did not entirely discount the presence of cross-cultural exchange. In her writing, Jerichau-Baumann often laments the infiltration of Western influences on Eastern culture. And yet, ironically, she understood it was primarily this condition of cultural hybridity that granted her access to begin with.The Location of Culture<\/em> (New York: Routledge) 1994.\">35<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Jerichau-Baumann\u2019s gender afforded her the possibility, but did not guarantee, automatic admission to the sphere of the harem. In the case with Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m, there was an added layer of restriction as it was an imperial harem, and Jerichau-Baumann first needed the permission of the princess\u2019s mother. Societal portraiture common in Europe, was unusual in Turkish visual culture at this time. It clashed with the Ottoman tradition of portraiture that favored the stylized miniature technique which resisted strict mimesis. A very specific set of circumstances allowed Jerichau-Baumann the unique privilege of entering the harem and painting Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m in the style of Western realist portraiture.<\/p>\n

Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m\u2019s family existed within a social milieu of the Ottoman Empire that was better primed to accept Jerichau-Baumann because of their immersion in Western culture. Her father studied in France and was a strong proponent of Western-style constitutional government and political reform.36<\/a><\/sup> Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m was educated by an English governess and was fluent in French, English, Ottoman, and Arabic. Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m traveled frequently and in her marriage to the notable art collector and Ottoman ambassador to France Khalil Bey, who exposed her to trends in Western art. Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m\u2019s family background and her multicultural education created an environment that predisposed her, and her family, to be more inclined to push the boundaries of Ottoman social customs.<\/p>\n

Scholars such as Roberts and Kuehn have asserted that Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m was unaware that Jerichau-Baumann cast her in the role of exotic seductress. Since there is no documentation that Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m ever saw the more sensual portraits of herself, the assumption has been that the artist intentionally hid her work from Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m and that had she known of their presence in exhibitions she would have felt embarrassed or betrayed.The Princess Nazil Hanum<\/em> harem painting as \u201cdiametrically opposed to Jerichau-Baumann\u2019s earlier honorific portraits produced in collaboration with Nazli herself,\u201d; Roberts, \u201cNazl\u0131\u2019s photographic games: Said and art history in a contrapuntal mode,\u201d Pride of Prejudice<\/em> 48, no. 5 (2014): 471. Roberts also asserts that Jerichau-Baumann exhibited portraits of Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m without her permission and labeled her later paintings of Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m as \u201cunauthorized erotic fantasies\u201d Roberts, Intimate Outsiders: The Harem in Ottoman and Orientalist Art and Travel Literature<\/em> (Durham: Duke University Press, 2007) 172. Kuehn has similarly cited Jerichau-Baumann\u2019s paintings of Nazl\u0131 as \u201cunsanctioned\u201d and being exhibited \u201cmost certainly without Nazili\u2019s knowledge,\u201d; Kuehn, 2011, 51.\">37<\/a><\/sup> However, Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m\u2019s own feelings about this form of exhibitionism may be more complex.<\/p>\n

Jerichau-Baumann first met Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m in 1869 at her father\u2019s seaside mansion in Istanbul, where she held domain over the entire second story which has been described as a haremlik<\/em>; the private portion of upper-class Ottoman homes reserved for women. The princess, however, received both male and female guests.New Egypt<\/em>, rev. ed. (London: William Heinemann 1906), 137.\">38<\/a><\/sup> This space included a reception room, great library, and concert hall, all furnished and decorated in the current European style, complete with chandeliers and an Erhard piano that she regularly used to entertain elite guests. (Other guests had included Princess Alexandra and the French Empress Eugenie.) The imperial harem sustained the indulgent and opulent conception of how the West believed the harems operated while also disrupting other parts. The princess\u2019s Western-style soirees represent a type of hybrid-harem that embraced both Eastern and Western societies, and in particular the art of portraiture. Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m gifted Jerichau-Baumann a small signed photograph (carte de visite<\/em>) of herself on one of Jerichau-Baumann\u2019s visits, most likely the second visit in 1874-1875, based on Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m\u2019s mature appearance [fig.6].39<\/a><\/sup> This exchange of portraits supports the idea that Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m was amenable to the distribution of her image overseas, and if considered to be received during the artist\u2019s second visit, reinforces the possibility that The <\/em>Princess Nazil Hanum<\/em> was the same portrait exhibited in 1871 and reworked and redated in 1875 based on Jerichau-Baumann\u2019s second visit with the princess.<\/p>\n

\"Fig.7.
Fig.7. Elisabeth-Jerichau Baumann, Odalisque<\/em>, 1869. Oil on canvas, 97.7 x 75 cm, Private collection. Photo: Christie\u2019s, London. Photo: Public domain.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cigarettes and Women\u2019s Liberation<\/strong><\/h2>\n

During the first half of the 19th century, it was unusual for women to smoke cigarettes, especially in public. One visitor described Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m\u2019s salon as being \u201ccovered with photographs of relations, friends, Sovereigns, and celebrities, of whom the Princess whilst smoking uninterruptedly cigarette after cigarette, spoke volubly, sometimes in English, sometimes in French.\u201d40<\/a><\/sup> The cigarette in the painting of Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m is therefore a small but significant detail relating to cross-cultural exchange. Many harem paintings include women smoking, but are almost always represented with the traditional hookah or long stem pipe. Jerichau-Baumann includes Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m smoking a rolled cigarette, typical of the Western practice of smoking at this time. In art and literature of the 19th century, pipes, cigars, and cigarettes often served as attributes of masculine power. Respectable women were rarely depicted smoking, and conversely, cigarettes served to indicate the moral degradation of a woman as the attribute of actresses, sex workers, and lesbians.Woman’s Art Journal<\/em>\u00a012, no. 1 (1991): 3.\">41<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

In another portrait of an unknown sitter titled Odalisque <\/em>(1869) [fig.7], the cigarette is again subtly inserted into the scene. Jerzy Miskowiak gives the painting the extended title \u201cAn odalisque from the harem of Mustafa Fazil Pasha in Constantinople looks at herself in a mirror<\/em>,\u201d which refers to Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m\u2019s father., <\/em>2020, 142.\">42<\/a><\/sup> The model dons an elaborate gold and silk headdress with gold coins cascading through her hair. She is seated draped in a gold-trimmed translucent shawl, exposing her shoulders, breasts and abdomen, and she holds a mirror to her face in the style of a Renaissance Venus at her mirror.Rokeby Venus<\/em>, c. 1647-1651; Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), Venus at the Mirror<\/em>, c. 1614-1615\">43<\/a><\/sup> A single cigarette rests in a seashell ashtray next to a box of matches atop a small octagon table. This table seems to reappear in The <\/em>Princess Nazil Hanum <\/em>that likewise holds the recently-lit cigarette of Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m [fig. 8]. Both tables are the same size, and consist of an octagon top inlaid with a geometric design containing black triangles. Both models share a similar headdress with a central half-moon piece, long dark hair, strong eyebrows, and the same seductive, one-sided grin. The gold bracelet Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m wears in The <\/em>Princess Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m <\/em>resembles the pair (one she wears, and one is open on the table) in Odalisque,<\/em> and the gauzy blue hanging with gold stars is repeated in the background of both paintings. The multiple similarities of the two works might suggest that Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m was the model, or inspiration, for both works.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Fig.8. Left, detail of Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann, Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann Odalisque<\/em>, 1869. Right, detail of Princess Nazili Hanum<\/em>, 1875.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jerichau-Baumann\u2019s appropriation of the male practice of smoking in paintings of her model\u2014who unapologetically indulged in the vice (both in painting and in life) \u2014may have been intended to subvert traditional gender roles. Odalisque<\/em> has a more masculine quality in the broadness of the figure\u2019s shoulders and chest, slightly squared jawline, and hair braided in a style common to both genders in Egypt. Jerichau-Baumann\u2019s androgynous characterizations of her sitters was once noted by a European critic who, in reference to her depictions of Eastern women, recalled the \u201cmasculine quality of Madame Jerichau\u2019s works.\u201dArt Journal, <\/em>vol. 33 1871, 165\">44<\/a><\/sup> By the early 20th century, tobacco companies in the United States began to market Turkish blend cigarettes, often advertising with images of Eastern women. One brand \u201cFatima\u201d paired an image of a veiled woman on their packaging with the phrase \u201cAlways satisfying<\/em>,\u201d which pointedly advertised to men the product\u2019s capacity to satisfy their needs with a clear analogy to the pleasures of smoking with the pleasures of women.The Advertising Age: Encyclopedia of Advertising <\/em>(Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 2002), 943.\">45<\/a><\/sup> For Jerichau-Baumann, the cigarette signified an infiltration into the privileges of men where smoking carried associations of a wider knowledge of intellectual life acquired through smoking rooms and cafes from which women had been excluded. It may be considered as a sort of precursor to the early 20th-century first-wave feminism that co-opted cigarettes as a symbol of women\u2019s equality with men. Her use of the cigarette also seemed to indicate that women were equally as capable of indulging in such \u201cmasculine pleasures” of desire for nicotine, as well as the desire for other women.<\/p>\n

Chaste Orientalism and The Female Artist<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"\"
Fig.9. Henriette Browne, A Visit, Harem Interior, Constantinople (Une visite [int\u00e9rieur de harem, Constantinople, 1860])<\/em>, 1860. Oil on canvas, 86 x 114 cm, Private collection. Photo: Public domain.<\/figcaption><\/figure>A number of female Orientalist artists were active during the 19th century, yet Jerichau-Baumann\u2019s uses of the queer female gaze make her production unique. A useful counterpoint to Jerichau-Baumann\u2019s Orientalism is the work of her predecessor, the painter Henriette Browne (French, 1829-1901). She was active about a decade prior to Jerichau-Baumann, and similarly gained access to the harems through her gender and social connections. Browne\u2019s painting A Visit, Harem Interior, Constantinople <\/em>(Une visite [int\u00e9rieur de harem, Constantinople, 1860])<\/em> (1860) [fig.9] was exhibited at the 1861 salon where it was met with praise by critics who cited her accuracy and restraint in depicting the harem.46<\/a><\/sup> Browne created the painting the same year she visited Constantinople and represents the antithesis of Jerichau-Baumann\u2019s sensational harem. Browne delivers a reserved depiction of a dignified gathering of fully clothed women. A group of women still donning their veils have recently arrived to greet the head woman of the harem. The scene is entirely polite, without a hint of erotic potential. The architecture is sparse, and the incoming light from the window on the left illuminates a large expanse of blank wall, taking up a full quarter of the composition. Unlike Jerichau-Baumann\u2019s loose brushwork and expressive use of color, Browne practices a tight handling of paint, and her precision added to the picture\u2019s overall perceived authenticity.47<\/a><\/sup> Furthermore, while Jerichau-Baumann used devices to imply the presence of a viewer, like the suggestion of a shared beverage by including a second cup in Princess Nazili Hanum<\/em>, Browne applies a perspective that removes the viewer from the picture entirely.<\/p>\n

Although some of the Salon reviewers of 1861 were disappointed to see a depiction that went against the popular harem fantasies of male Orientalists, the overall positive response deemed the work appropriate for a woman to produce.48<\/a><\/sup> One critic noted that \u201cOnly women should go to Turkey\u2014what can a man see in this jealous country?\u201dThird Text, <\/em>7 no. 22 (1993): 58.\">49<\/a><\/sup> Browne set a precedent for Jerichau-Baumann that proved it was not necessary to produce such sexualized work to be appreciated as an Orientalist. The tame harem may have even been more agreeable to a Western audience when coming from a woman artist.
\nThe success of Browne\u2019s chaste Orientalism challenges the assumption that Jerichau-Baumann\u2019s work was contrived entirely to cater to the marketability of the more hedonic brand of Orientalism. In reference to her Orientalist paintings, one critic seethed In reference to her paintings, one critic seethed that they were too was \u201csaccharine\u201d and \u201cpathetic\u201d which confirms that her work was not universally accepted.By the Light of the Crescent Moon: Images of the Near East in Danish Art and Literature, 1800-1875.<\/em> Copenhagen: David Collection, 1996, 83, trans. by Henrik Rosenmeier. \">50<\/a><\/sup> An alternative reading might posit that Jerichau-Baumann was motivated by her own interest in exploring the niches of genres that permitted her to create sensual images of women, just as her Danish nationalist genre and allegorical work were more lucrative than her enticing mermaid paintings but which she still chose to create.51<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

\"\"
Fig.11. Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann, Egyptian Pottery Seller from Boulaq upon Nile<\/em>, 1876. Oil on canvas, 99 x 138.5 cm. Private collection. Photo: Public domain.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Fig.12.
Fig.12. Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann, An Egyptian Pottery Seller near Gizeh<\/em>, 1876-1878. Oil on canvas, 92 x 114 cm. Statens Museum for Kunst, Denmark. Photo: Public domain.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Water Carriers and Pottery Sellers <\/strong><\/h2>\n

Jerichau-Baumann\u2019s paintings of Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m were not an isolated case of the artist experimenting with an existing genre. Jerichau-Baumann also painted women on the lower rungs of the social hierarchy in Cairo, Bulak, Gizeh, and Memphis including several women selling or transporting vessels of water. In her travelogue Jerichau-Baumann writes expressively of her fascination with these women:<\/p>\n

Sporadically, a single woman can be seen, walking soundlessly with her terracotta pot through the sandy fog towards the Nile. This is where I received the impression for my painting of the \u2018water carrying woman by the Nile.\u2019 One of the women let her transparent, black wrap fall for a moment, as it was very hot; she thought she would be unnoticed, and her body\u2019s full beauty became visible to me, intensified by the rich, ornamental, Nubian bride-belt, the only jewelry the husband is obliged to give his wife when he divorces her.52<\/a><\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Fig.10.
Fig.10. Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann, Water Carriers<\/em>, 1875. Xylograph, from Brogede Rejsebilleder <\/em>(Kj\u00f8benhavn: Thieles, 1881). Public domain.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This passage is from the chapter in her travelogue entitled \u201cEgypt 1870\u201d and the woman Jerichau-Baumann rousingly describes is reproduced in the book in a xylograph woodblock print based on a now-lost painting [fig.10]. The reproduction is dated to 1875, but the painting was likely completed earlier, and shown at the artist\u2019s 1871 London exhibition. Critics described her paintings as \u201cpronouncedly ethnographical\u201d and included \u201cone or two female studies of Fellaheen.\u201dArt Journal, <\/em>vol. 33 1871, 165.\">53<\/a><\/sup> Fellaheen is the plural term for Fellah, which refers to an agricultural laborer in the Arab World. Jerichau-Baumann\u2019s use of these culturally specific terms was another method to add credibility to the perceived authenticity of her work.Yemen Into the Twenty-First Century: Continuity and Change<\/em> (Ithaca: Garnet & Ithaca Press, 2007),\u00a0209.\">54<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Two additional paintings of this genre are both similarly titled Egyptian Pottery Seller from Boulaq upon Nile<\/em> (1876), and An Egyptian Pottery Seller at Gizeh <\/em>(1876-78) [figs.11-12]. Both picture a sultry woman on the ground surrounded by large ceramic pottery. Both figures lean on their left arm and gaze flirtatiously out at the viewer, bearing a striking resemblance to Jerichau-Baumann\u2019s mermaid paintings. The artist applies the same pose and confrontational gaze for the pottery seller, substituting the Egyptian landscape for the sea, golden hair ornaments for seaweed, and a clay pot for a rock.<\/p>\n

This composition would be repeated once more, although through a somewhat unexpected source. There is no documented evidence that Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m ever saw Jerichau-Baumann\u2019s reclining harem portrait of her. However, there exists an intriguing photograph that suggests Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m was familiar with Jerichau-Baumann\u2019s pottery seller portraits. Dated to around the 1880s, Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m independently choreographed a set of studio photographs [fig. 13]. In the first, Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m sits against a studio backdrop picturing a pyramid and palm trees, as one might see produced for tourists seeking a keepsake of their travels. She wears a contemporary Western-style dress in a dignified pose with her legs primly crossed. In the second photo, using the same backdrop, Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m has transformed her costume into that of a traditional Ottoman man. At her feet her female companion, dressed as a fellah, sits barefoot on the ground leaning against a large ceramic vessel, giving the identical confrontational stare as the woman Jerichau-Baumann\u2019s pottery seller painting.55<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

\"\"
Fig.13. Unknown photographer, Princess Nazl\u0131 Hanum <\/em>(n.d.), photograph. Sutherland archive, Staffordshire record office.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

These photographs are contained in an album that belonged to the Third Duke of Sutherland and were likely gifted to the duke by Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m during his visit to Cairo in 1880. Sharing the same sheet in the album is a third photograph of a young woman\u2019s head in profile. Identified in graphite as \u201cMiss Laing \/ friend of the princess<\/em>\u201d the circular photo is pasted in the album in such a way that Laing\u2019s upturned eyes draw a direct line to Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m\u2019s first honorific portrait [fig.14].Modernism on the Nile: Art in Egypt between the Islamic and the Contemporary<\/em>, (Chapel Hill: UNC Press, 2019), 36.\">56<\/a><\/sup> In my interpretation, the look in Laing\u2019s admiring stare and slightly parted lips gives the impression of sensual adoration directed towards Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m, who appears to be purposefully positioned on the page to infer the presence of a queer female gaze.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Fig.14. Unknown photographer, Princess Nazl\u0131 Hanum <\/em>(n.d.), photograph. Sutherland archive, Staffordshire record office.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This connection is made especially strong when viewed alongside what today could be described as a genderqueer presentation Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m\u2019s genderqueer presentation. The timing of the photograph may also be notable, likely taken the year after Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m\u2019s husband died. Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m is labeled in graphite as \u201cwidow of Halil Pacha Sherif\u201d (also known as Khalil Bey). According to Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m\u2019s close friend Lady Layard, who met with Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m the week after her husband\u2019s death in 1879, Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m seemed \u201ca good deal relieved\u201d to be free from her husband.Journals of Mary Enid Evelyn Layard<\/em>.\">57<\/a><\/sup> The configuration of women and the triangulation of gazes seem to echo that feeling of relief and pride in finding a way to elude the male gaze.<\/p>\n

The transgressive nature of a woman cross-dressing in the Islamic culture of the 19th-century Ottoman Empire cannot be understated, and the queer nature of challenging gender roles is unmistakable. Traditionally, women in the Ottoman Empire wore head coverings usually in the form of a veil, but as Western fashion trends took root, bonnets were also common. Educated elite Egyptian males wore a tarboosh headpiece like the one Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m dons, and the long white cloak with black kaftan she wears is similarly reserved for Egyptian men. Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m\u2019s feminine Western dress would likely have been generally deemed appropriate, but dressing as a man would have been far more uncommon.58<\/a><\/sup> It appears that rather than resisting Jerichau-Baumann\u2019s exoticizing queer female gaze, Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m embraced the role, perhaps seeing a certain restorative power in the willful self-othering of her own unconventional queerness. In reclaiming these stereotypes Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m could engage in a visually coded language that could strike a responsive chord in a queer viewer. This photograph questions the prevailing assumption that Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m was an unwilling and unknowing participant in Jerichau-Baumann\u2019s sexualized portraiture of her and offers a potentially new understanding of what may have been a more collaborative relationship.<\/p>\n

19th-Century Art and Lesbian Iconography<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"Fig.
Fig. 15.Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann: Bathing Nymphs, <\/em>n.d. Oil on panel, 20.5 x 26.5 cm, Private collection. Photo:Bruun Rasmussen, Copenhagen. Public domain.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Det er nyttigt at kontekstualisere relationen mellem Jerichau-Baumann og modellerne i hendes orientalistiske portr\u00e6tter i forhold til It is helpful to situate the relationship between Jerichau-Baumann and her sitters for her Orientalist portraiture within the context of transnational popular imagery of lesbianism in art during the 19th century. Both Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m and Jerichau-Baumann were kept abreast of all the current trends in art, attending the Paris salon, and were culturally well-informed through international newspapers and magazines. Jerichau-Baumann created artwork beyond her Orientalist paintings that contained lesbian themes, such as Bathing Nymphs <\/em>(n.d.) [fig.15]. Lesbian imagery was not at all new in Western art, and the motif was often found in eighteenth-century interpretations of myths like Diana and Castillo. In these mythological themes artists could playfully allude to lesbian themes with goddesses and nymphs while remaining safely within the confines of mythological story telling.\u00a0 By the 19th century, the theme became more widespread and was stripped of its veiled allegorical references by artists such as Toulouse-Lautrec, Manet, and Courbet, and by writers such as Maupassant, Zola, and Flaubert.Artibus Et Historiae<\/em> 9, no. 18 (1988): 189-91.\">59<\/a><\/sup> Despite the emergence of depictions of lesbianism into popular culture, the creators and consumers of this material were generally not motivated by a desire to illustrate or understand queerness beyond its potential to titillate.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Fig.16.
Fig.16. Gustave Courbet, The Origin of the World (L’Origine du monde)<\/em>, 1866. Oil on canvas, 46 \u00d7\u00a055 cm, Mus\u00e9e d’Orsay, Paris. \u00a9 Mus\u00e9e d\u2019Orsay, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais \/ Patrice Schmidt.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Though tumultuous, Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m\u2019s seven-year marriage to Khalil Bey (from 1872 until his death in 1879), introduced Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m to several important artistic and cultural influences.New York Times<\/em>, \u201cTurkish Matrimonial Troubles,\u201d (1874), 3.; Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m also confessed to her friend Lady Layard in 1877 that she had a baby who died at nine months of age Lady Layard writes that \u201cshe seemed sad & depressed\u201d Lady Layard, \u201c7 May 1877\u2014Constantinople,\u201d in Journals of Mary Enid Evelyn Layard<\/em>.\">60<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0Khalil Bey amassed a significant collection of paintings heavy with sexual lesbian overtones, and he commissioned Gustave Courbet (1819\u20131877) to paint both The Origin of the World<\/em> and The Sleepers <\/em>(1866) [figs. 16-17]., <\/em>38.\">61<\/a><\/sup> The Origin of the World<\/em> presents a clear depiction of a woman\u2019s genitals. The model lies supine with her breasts partially exposed under a white dressing gown lifted to expose her abdomen, pubis and thighs. Courbet painted the woman near life-size and from a slightly elevated perspective, which provides the spatial effect of positioning the viewer between her legs, adding to the work\u2019s naturalistic eroticism. The Sleepers<\/em> similarly reflects Courbet\u2019s Realism, with two nude women in bed in an impassioned embrace that articulates same sex desire with an undisguised clarity of image. However, the image remains rooted in the spectacle of Courbet\u2019s radical realism.<\/p>\n

In addition to the Courbet paintings, Khalil Bey also owned Ingres\u2019s The Turkish Bath (<\/em>Le Bain Turc) <\/em>tondo (1862) depicting a swarm of lounging women bathers, ripe with lesbian implications. It is not possible to determine which paintings, if any, Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m had seen, as a large majority of works in Khalil Bey\u2019s collection was sold before their marriage. However, The Sleepers <\/em>was subject to a well-known scandal Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m might have been aware of when Khalil Bey sold the painting in 1872, the same year as their wedding. It was publicly exhibited by a dealer, which resulted in the picture being reported to the authorities., Courbet Reconsidered, <\/em>(Brooklyn Museum: 1988), 176\">62<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0Understanding the possibility of lesbian sex existing, even if pandering to a heterosexual male gaze, could have impressed upon the young Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m that same-sex desire between women could exist, in both a general sense, and as a subject of art.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Fig.17. Gustave Courbet, The Sleepers (Le Sommeil)<\/em>, 1866. Oil on canvas, 158 x 224 cm. Petit Palais, Paris.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Similarly, Jerichau-Baumann may have known of Khalil Bey\u2019s erotic art collection, but was certainly familiar with the theme of lesbianism in art, and the iconography of female sexuality. Certain elements in Courbet\u2019s Sleepers<\/em>, for example, would likely have been legible symbols for Jerichau-Baumann. The string of pearls, broken in the passions of Courbet\u2019s lovers, alluded to the common euphemism for a pearl to represent the clitoris.Pearls: Ornament and Obsession <\/em>(New York: Simon & Schuster, 1993), 36. The motif of a string of pearls is also present in Th\u00e9odore Gautier\u2019s novel with lesbian themes Mademoiselle de Maupin<\/em>. ; Th\u00e9odore Gautier, Mademoiselle de Maupin<\/em> (Paris: Garnier-Flammarion, 1966), 372.\">63<\/a><\/sup> The pearl beads visually draw the viewer\u2019s eye to the white bedding Courbet\u2019s dark-haired model is lifting to reveal the pink fleshy tones underneath, resembling vulva. These details reemerge in Jerichau-Baumann\u2019s grand painting of Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m in which the princess wears a pearl necklace, that cascades sensuously down her chest, and the pink fleshy tones are repeated in Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m\u2019s satin pants, which crease teasingly to reveal the shape between her legs. Art historian Reina Lewis has pointed out the potential eroticism of a passage in Jerichau-Baumann\u2019s 1881 travelogue: \u201cOh Nazli\u2026 You budding rose surrounded by thorns you who dream about the unknown, about this world, of which you have only an inkling, you resemble a true pearl concealed between the hard tightly closed blades of the shimmering mother shell.\u201d64<\/a><\/sup> The pearl again may signify the clitoris enclosed in the \u201cshell\u201d of her vulva. In considering a wider network of meaning, this broader frame of reference that connects to a queer female gaze becomes more conceivable, even in the context of the flowery language often used in the 19th century that may be construed by today\u2019s standards as erotic. Taken from this stance, homoerotic or romantic feelings could possibly have existed between Jerichau-Bauman and Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m.<\/p>\n

There existed a complex double standard in which images and descriptions of female homosexuality were more accepted than male homosexuality. While lesbianism was often presented as a symptom of social decay and moral degradation common to sex work, it was not as heavily and violently policed as male homosexuality.Sex in Literature, <\/em>(London: Calder and Boyars, 1973), 221.\">65<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0This tradition of societal tolerance of lesbianism was rooted in a fundamental misunderstanding of female sexuality; a tolerance rooted in invalidation. This misogynistic ignorance viewed lesbian sexual experiences to be inadequate and frustrating, and therefore unthreatening. For this reason, images of female lovers appealed to the male heterosexual viewer as fantasies free of another man.<\/p>\n

Theatrical Sapphic Orientalism<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The presence of a sexualizing female gaze on the part of Jerichau-Baumann, and the evidence of Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m\u2019s irreverent genderqueer parody of Orientalist tropes invite new interrogations of a societal impulse that blindly assigns heterosexuality to all women. The queer coding embedded in 19th century Orientalism carried through to the 20th century when a language to self-identify as queer became more accessible. The overt nature of sapphic Orientalism became prevalent in theater performances, especially in France and Britain (the biggest exporters of Orientalist culture). Literary critic Emily Apter has explored this phenomenon of Western reapportion of Orientalist stereotypes in her essay \u201cActing Out Sapphic Orientalism,\u201d (1994), in which she describes how the salon and stage became locations for the activism of queerness.L’Esprit Cr\u00e9ateur<\/em>\u00a034, no. 2 (1994): 102-116.\">66<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

\"\"
Fig.18. Unknown photographer, Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette and Missy de Morny in production of R\u00eave d\u2019\u00c9gypte\u00a0(\u2018Dream of Egypt\u2019)<\/em>, 1907. Moulin Rougue. Photo: Public domain.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Maud Allan, for instance, was a prominent queer dancer who performed as Salom\u00e9 in the 1906 production of Vision of Salom\u00e9<\/em> (inspired by Oscar Wilde\u2019s eponymous play), which toured Vienna, London, and New York. Ida Rubenstein, also a famous out queer woman, played Cleopatra in the Ballet Russes\u2019s Paris production in 1909.The Lesbian History Sourcebook: Love and Sex Between Women in Britain from 1780-1970<\/em> (London: Routledge, 2001), <\/em>162.; Ida Rubenstein (1883 \u2013 1960, Russian) was in a relationship with artist Romaine Brooks (1874 \u2013 1970, American) between 1911 and 1914, and after starring in Cleopatra <\/em>she took on the male role in Gabriele D\u2019Annunzio\u2019s play The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian<\/em> in Paris \u2013 a play so full of queer subtext that the Archbishop of Paris prohibited Catholics from attending under threat of ex-communication.; Chadwick, Whitney, and Joe Lucchesi.\u00a0Amazons in the Drawing Room: The Art of Romaine Brooks<\/em> (Berkeley: University of California Press 2000), 73-74.\">67<\/a><\/sup> The French writer and actress Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (1873\u20131954, French) and her gender-nonconforming partner Missy (Mathilde de Morny, 1863\u20131944) performed together in the play Dream of Egypt<\/em> [fig.18]. Missy performed as a western Egyptologist who discovers a mummy, revealed to be Collette when Missy teasingly unwraps and shares an on-stage kiss with her. The Orientalist contours of the performance and correlated lesbian overtones are transparent. The audience understood the implications clearly, which caused spectators to hurl insults such as \u201cDown with the dykes!\u201dColette\u2019s Republic: Work, Gender, and Popular Culture in France, 1870 \u2013 1914, <\/em>(New York: Berghahn Books, 2009), 106.\">68<\/a><\/sup> The Orientalist tropes adopted by queer women also speak to the race and class positions that enabled Jerichau-Baumann\u2019s work. Despite enduring harsh criticism, Ida Rubenstein, Maud Allan, Colette, and Missy were all white women of class and wealth whose position could more easily afford them the space to exercise their sexuality publicly.<\/p>\n

Similarly, Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m\u2019s position permitted her a protected space to perform her own transgressive practices of negotiating between an idealized West and an eroticized Eastern other and could freely participate in the stereotypes that were developing into methods of queer coding in which sapphic love could be employed and recognized. The harem portraiture of Jerichau-Baumann permitted both artist and model to engage the queer female gaze within the confines of existing stereotypes that allowed for a certain slippage between performing and acting out sapphic Orientalism. The campy, over-the-top nature of Jerichau-Baumann\u2019s exaggerated displays of sexuality in her painting and writing anticipate the same theatricality of queer culture that is well-known today.<\/p>\n

After nearly a decade since their first encounter, Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m wrote to Jerichau-Baumann lightly poking fun at what she perhaps viewed as Jerichau-Baumann\u2019s naive Western brand of feminism. \u201cYour idea that the constitution must give (at once) our women freedom much amused me; for this cannot be for long years yet to come and though there are many who think it utterly impossible, I am not one of them.\u201d Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m states her lack of confidence in the swift revolution Jerichau-Baumann espoused, but firmly declares her belief in an emancipated future for women.69<\/a><\/sup> Within this in-between space of apprehension and ambition grew networks of remarkable ingenuity between women navigating the social confines unique to their time and location. The overlaps and distinctions of these experiences highlight the more personal details of their lives that have until recently been shrouded in ambiguity.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What was Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann’s motivation for painting erotically charged portraits of women? This article presents a queer theoretical reading of Jerichau-Baumann’s Orientalist portraits of women, with a particular focus on one of her most famous models, the Egyptian-Ottoman princess Zainab Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m (1853-1913). <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4890,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nElisabeth Jerichau-Baumann Sapphic Orientalism - Perspective<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/en\/elisabeth-jerichau-baumann-sapphic-orientalism\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann Sapphic Orientalism - Perspective\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What was Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann's motivation for painting erotically charged portraits of women? This article presents a queer theoretical reading of Jerichau-Baumann's Orientalist portraits of women, with a particular focus on one of her most famous models, the Egyptian-Ottoman princess Zainab Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m (1853-1913).\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/en\/elisabeth-jerichau-baumann-sapphic-orientalism\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Perspective\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-05-22T19:54:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-02-23T14:09:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Fig.1_The-Princess-Nazili-Hanum-3-scaled.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1995\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"SarahSMK\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"SarahSMK\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"57 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/en\/elisabeth-jerichau-baumann-sapphic-orientalism\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/en\/elisabeth-jerichau-baumann-sapphic-orientalism\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"SarahSMK\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/79eb250ea4eff30fce590dbfd33503fe\"},\"headline\":\"Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann Sapphic Orientalism\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-05-22T19:54:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-02-23T14:09:44+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/en\/elisabeth-jerichau-baumann-sapphic-orientalism\/\"},\"wordCount\":10047,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/en\/elisabeth-jerichau-baumann-sapphic-orientalism\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Fig.1_The-Princess-Nazili-Hanum-3-scaled.jpeg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Articles\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/en\/elisabeth-jerichau-baumann-sapphic-orientalism\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/en\/elisabeth-jerichau-baumann-sapphic-orientalism\/\",\"name\":\"Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann Sapphic Orientalism - Perspective\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/en\/elisabeth-jerichau-baumann-sapphic-orientalism\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/en\/elisabeth-jerichau-baumann-sapphic-orientalism\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Fig.1_The-Princess-Nazili-Hanum-3-scaled.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-05-22T19:54:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-02-23T14:09:44+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/79eb250ea4eff30fce590dbfd33503fe\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/en\/elisabeth-jerichau-baumann-sapphic-orientalism\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/en\/elisabeth-jerichau-baumann-sapphic-orientalism\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Fig.1_The-Princess-Nazili-Hanum-3-scaled.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Fig.1_The-Princess-Nazili-Hanum-3-scaled.jpeg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1995},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/en\/\",\"name\":\"Perspective\",\"description\":\"Perspective Journal\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/79eb250ea4eff30fce590dbfd33503fe\",\"name\":\"SarahSMK\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d383cbf88c7b7450a537c3ad4e41b5f1b293ab9bb603bcfab056625807fb121a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d383cbf88c7b7450a537c3ad4e41b5f1b293ab9bb603bcfab056625807fb121a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d383cbf88c7b7450a537c3ad4e41b5f1b293ab9bb603bcfab056625807fb121a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"SarahSMK\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/en\/author\/sarahsmk\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann Sapphic Orientalism - Perspective","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/en\/elisabeth-jerichau-baumann-sapphic-orientalism\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann Sapphic Orientalism - Perspective","og_description":"What was Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann's motivation for painting erotically charged portraits of women? This article presents a queer theoretical reading of Jerichau-Baumann's Orientalist portraits of women, with a particular focus on one of her most famous models, the Egyptian-Ottoman princess Zainab Nazl\u0131 Han\u0131m (1853-1913).","og_url":"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/en\/elisabeth-jerichau-baumann-sapphic-orientalism\/","og_site_name":"Perspective","article_published_time":"2023-05-22T19:54:11+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-02-23T14:09:44+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1995,"url":"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Fig.1_The-Princess-Nazili-Hanum-3-scaled.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"SarahSMK","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"SarahSMK","Est. reading time":"57 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/en\/elisabeth-jerichau-baumann-sapphic-orientalism\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/en\/elisabeth-jerichau-baumann-sapphic-orientalism\/"},"author":{"name":"SarahSMK","@id":"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/79eb250ea4eff30fce590dbfd33503fe"},"headline":"Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann Sapphic Orientalism","datePublished":"2023-05-22T19:54:11+00:00","dateModified":"2024-02-23T14:09:44+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/en\/elisabeth-jerichau-baumann-sapphic-orientalism\/"},"wordCount":10047,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/en\/elisabeth-jerichau-baumann-sapphic-orientalism\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Fig.1_The-Princess-Nazili-Hanum-3-scaled.jpeg","articleSection":["Articles"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/en\/elisabeth-jerichau-baumann-sapphic-orientalism\/","url":"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/en\/elisabeth-jerichau-baumann-sapphic-orientalism\/","name":"Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann Sapphic Orientalism - Perspective","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/en\/elisabeth-jerichau-baumann-sapphic-orientalism\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/en\/elisabeth-jerichau-baumann-sapphic-orientalism\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Fig.1_The-Princess-Nazili-Hanum-3-scaled.jpeg","datePublished":"2023-05-22T19:54:11+00:00","dateModified":"2024-02-23T14:09:44+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/79eb250ea4eff30fce590dbfd33503fe"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/en\/elisabeth-jerichau-baumann-sapphic-orientalism\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/en\/elisabeth-jerichau-baumann-sapphic-orientalism\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Fig.1_The-Princess-Nazili-Hanum-3-scaled.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Fig.1_The-Princess-Nazili-Hanum-3-scaled.jpeg","width":2560,"height":1995},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/en\/","name":"Perspective","description":"Perspective Journal","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/79eb250ea4eff30fce590dbfd33503fe","name":"SarahSMK","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d383cbf88c7b7450a537c3ad4e41b5f1b293ab9bb603bcfab056625807fb121a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d383cbf88c7b7450a537c3ad4e41b5f1b293ab9bb603bcfab056625807fb121a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d383cbf88c7b7450a537c3ad4e41b5f1b293ab9bb603bcfab056625807fb121a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"SarahSMK"},"url":"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/en\/author\/sarahsmk\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4958"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4958\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5219,"href":"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4958\/revisions\/5219"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.perspectivejournal.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}