The Comtesse de Coventry in Turkish dress, signed by Fleming after Liotard, London, dated 1820

pastel on paper laid down on canvas

In good condition, the pastel slightly rubbed near lips and nose, and next to the best, few minor stains to one side, the frame with some breaks and ware, as viewed.
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When Liotard returned after several years in Istanbul where he painted the Frankish community in both portrait and genre scene, he presented himself with full beard and in Levantine clothing as ‘le peintre turc’. The original for this work formed the basis for his larger series, ‘turqueries’, which were executed in both pastel and oil, and The Comtesse of Coventry in Ottoman-style Dress was a particularly popular subject, originally painted in 1748, and copied on several occasions. Other examples of high-quality copies now hang in major galleries and collections around the world (see N.S Trivas, Jean-Etienne Liotard, peintrues, pastels et dessins, archive of the Musée d’Art et d’histoire, Geneva, c.1936, cat.no.105).

Another painting of the same subject was sold in these rooms, European Paintings including German, Austrian & Central European Paintings and The Orientalist Sale, 30 May 2008, lot 118.