French school; XIX century.

French school; XIX century.
Untitled.
Oil on canvas.
It preserves illegible traces of signature.
Measurements: 60 x 47 cm; 93 x 77 cm (frame).
Scene of interior in which a young woman lies down on a divan, while, in the background, inscribed in the half-light can be seen the presence of a man of which only his grotesque face can be appreciated.
The main figure represents an odalisque, a slave belonging to the Ottoman Empire, who was established as an apprentice or assistant to the concubines and wives of the sultan, and could later obtain this social position. Most odalisques were part of the sultan's imperial harem. The representation of this type of woman in the West was a recurring theme throughout the 19th century. They were frequent especially in the paintings of the orientalist current, which should be understood as one of the currents that fed the European art of the 19th century, coinciding with the triumph of the capitalist bourgeoisie and the imperialist countries, especially England and France. Provoked by a romantic vision and developing an aesthetic in search of a fantastic and free flight in time and space.