Beautiful Lady Archive
The Austrian painter Hans Zatzka is known for painting women in rich environment. His themes varied from mythology to fantasy and sometimes real places. But, his most prolific works represents mythological characters in different sets. The current painting is about the Greek goddess Venus in lying on a ground surrounded by the ‘attendants’. Here, the attendants are the love-angles as the Venus herself is the goddess of love, merrymaking and prosperity. The artist has put her in a surrounding which matches her nature, power and her voluptuous effect in general. The little angles are obviously there of their characteristic resemblances with cupids. Though, they don’t have the bows and arrows of love like cupids but these little angles are as charming and create a sense […]
Portrayed woman was a concubine in the harem of one of the kings of the Ottoman dynasty and most probably the king lived between 1860 to 1926 as that’s the lifespan of the French artist, Charles Amable Lenoir, who has depicted this painting. The Ottoman kingdom lasted until 1922, so it is most probable that the woman in the portrait is an actual concubine from the Ottoman harem. The word, Odalisque, originate from Turkish and meant a chambermaid. An Odalisque didn’t necessarily served the king but served the concubines of the king. But, if she has some sort of skill or beauty enough to represent her to the king or make her one of his concubines she could have a ‘promotion’. She could even be […]






















