This orientalism painting with beautiful Ottoman dancer was executed ca. 1860-1870s and due to the provenance and on the base of comparison with other fully identical works by the same artist it was attributed to the hand of Sandor Alexander Svoboda (1826 Bagdad - 1896 Smyrna). For other similar works by him see our additional images.

He was a painter and photographer of Hungarian-Armenian descent. Sandor Alexander Svoboda was the eldest son of Anton Svoboda and Euphemie Josephine Muradjian.
His paintings, whose motifs were strongly influenced by the Orient, were inspired by his numerous travels. Like his brothers, he attended the French Carmelite School in Baghdad. He then traveled to Budapest to study painting, where he studied in the studio of Miklós Barabás (1810–1898). He later studied in Venice and London. Back in Baghdad, he was celebrated as a successful painter and photographer. Together with his brother Joseph Mathia Svoboda, he spent several years in Bombay and returned to Baghdad in 1857. One year later, he left Baghdad and settled in Smyrna until his death. Some of his works are still on display in the Milli Saraylar Resim Müzesi, the National Palace Painting Museum, in Istanbul.

Literature: in French: Emm. Bénézit Dictionnaire des peintres, sculpteurs, dessinateurs et graveurs. 4. edition 1999, V.  13, S. 396; in German: Hans Vollmer "General lexicon of artists from Ancient to Modern, Leipzid, 1999; in Turkish: Çınar Atay: 19. yüzyıl İzmir fotoğrafları. Suna & Kiraç Akdeniz Medeniyetleri Araştırma Enstitüsü, Istanbul 1997.

inscription: unsigned.

Technique: oil on canvas, relined on canvas, luxuriousy original period gilt frame.

Measurements: unframed w 10 1/3" x h 15"(26,5 x 38 cm), framed 21" x 25" (53,5 x 63,5 cm).

Condition: good.