Portrait of a "Mamelouk"

Vernet's Portrait of a Mamelouk from 1810 depicts one of the Mameluk soldiers who served Napoleon's Imperial Guard after the Egyptian campaign — the exotic Eastern warriors whose picturesque costumes and equestrian skills fascinated French artists and military observers. Napoleon's 1798-1801 Egyptian campaign had introduced French culture to the visual world of the Islamic Middle East, and the surviving Mameluk soldiers who entered French service brought living embodiments of Oriental military culture to Paris. Vernet was beginning his career when this portrait was painted, and his interest in Oriental military subjects anticipated the Orientalist tradition that would dominate much of his later work.

Vernet's oil on canvas renders the Mameluk's exotic costume with precise, vivid detail and warm color, combining the documentary accuracy of military painting with the romantic appeal of oriental subject matter.