Bashi-Bazouk (Jean-Léon Gérôme)

Bashi-Bazouk
French: Bachi-Bouzouk, Bachi-Bouzouk nègre
Artist	Jean-Léon Gérôme
Year	1869
Medium	Oil on canvas
Dimensions	80.6 cm × 66 cm (31.7 in × 26 in)
Location	Metropolitan Museum of Art

Bashi-Bazouk (possibly titled Bachi-Bouzouk nègre) is a painting by French artist Jean-Léon Gérôme. Done in oil on canvas, the painting depicts a Bashi-bazouk, an irregular soldier of the Ottoman Empire. The painting is currently on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Description

Painted by Jean-Léon Gérôme between 1868 and 1869, the painting depicts a dark-skinned model dressed as a Bashi-bazouk, a levy of irregular Ottoman soldiers infamous for their brutality, looting, and lack of discipline. Gérôme acquired the garb seen in the painting during a trip to the near east in 1868. The haphazard and mixed textiles the model is dressed in is reminiscent of the Bashi-bazouks, as the soldiers were traditionally unpaid and did not adopt a standardized uniform, resulting in the soldiers wearing whatever they could acquire on a march. This a key point of the painting, as the brutal reputation of a Bashi-bazouk is contrasted by the silk tunic, quality clothes, and noble bearing of the subject.