(Bergamo 1800–1883 Bologna)
Portrait of a Young Lady from Constantinople, signed Pro Luchini, oil on canvas, 104 x 127 cm, framed

Provenance:
Sotheby’s, New York, 16 February 1994, lot 72;
Gros & Delettrez, Paris, 12 June 1995, lot 212;
acquired from the above by the current owner, Private Collection Italy.

Catalogued and illustrated in:
Frédéric Hitzel, Couleurs de la Corne d’Or: Peintres voyageurs à la sublime porte, ACR ed., Paris 2002.

Pietro Luchini trained at the Accademia di Carrara in Bergamo under Giuseppe Diotti (1779-1846) and moved to Rome in 1820. He travelled to Paris and London in 1832 and eventually journeyed to Constantinople in the 1850s, where he lived for a decade. Little is known about the artist except that he painted portraits, such as this lot.
The sitter’s costume reflects the fashions of the period. As she is not wearing a veil, it is most probable that she is not a Muslim. However, she doubtless comes from a wealthy family, as shown by her diamond earrings and velvet top embroidered with gold thread. She is holding a diamond-studded çubuk, a long ottoman pipe with a yellow hardstone mouthpiece that ends in a Tophane cup, a porcelain bowl which is not visible in this painting.

Video: The Orientalists