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Artworks
An Ottoman Lion Hunt, Austrian School, first half of the 18th century
Oil on canvas
186 × 293 cmThis painting reflects the eighteenth-century European fashion for turquerie, the fascination with Ottoman culture that flourished in the Habsburg lands and France. Turkish horsemen battle lions in an imagined Eastern landscape, combining exotic costume and setting with the dramatic dynamism of Baroque hunting scenes. The energetic diagonal composition recalls the work of Peter Paul Rubens, while the Orientalizing theme aligns with artists such as Jean-Étienne Liotard. The result is a theatrical reinterpretation of the ancient lion hunt motif through the lens of eighteenthcentury European imagination.Read Essay