Page 131 - Orient Collection

59. Feeding the Pigeons in the Harem

Artist: Josef TURBA, Austrian, (1750 - 1830)
Execution date (approximate): 1820
Téchnique: Oil on Canvas (signed lower left)
Measures: 67 x 93 cm.
Description: Harem Scenes were the fruit of the imagination of the Painters, mainly due
to the stories and counts revealed about the rulers of the Otoman Empire. A Harem scene
inspired from the exoticism of TURBA’S travel to Turkey.
A favorite entertaining herself by feeding the pigeons. A guard stands in the back.

Exhibition
Austria, Kunsthalle Krems, Krems-Stein: 14.08.2005 – 13.11.2005. “Harem Des Orients”.

Publications
• Harem Des Orients, p. 96.

Biography
Josef Turba was an Austrian painter who also created sculptures. He worked in Ödenburg
from 1773 until 1803. A historical review would explain Turba’s passion for Orientalist Art.
Before 1921, Ödenburg together with other three districts belonged to South Hungry, area
known as Swabian Turkey, at the south of Lake Balaton (Plattensee), also named Sopron;
all being part of the Austria-Hungary Empire. These districts were Austria’s most eastern
provinces; and joined the Republic of Austria in 1921. At the time of the Empire (before 1921),
the 4 cities were under western Hungarian administration, and named “Vierburgerland”
- Land of Four Castles. These Four districts (Ödenburg, Wieseburg, Eisenburg and
Pressburg) had their “Burg” names from the high defense buildings that were erected
against the Magyar and Turkish threats. Because of the Turkish invasions, there were a
lot of influence in Ödenburg, which awakened Turba’s curiosity to the Oriental Exoticism;
He then traveled to Turkey and back to Ödenburg and Vienna. He painted genre scenes,
portraits, landscapes and Harem scenes.

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