Un bain au sérail

This 1849 Bath in the Seraglio at the Louvre depicts women bathing in an Ottoman harem interior, a subject drawn from the imaginary Orientalism of French Romantic painting rather than direct observation—Chassériau, unlike some later Orientalists, did not have access to actual harem interiors. The seraglio bath scene allowed French painters to combine exotic setting with the nude bathing subjects that classical academic tradition legitimized, producing works that could be exhibited at the Salon as both Orientalist documentation and academic figure painting. Chassériau's treatment is more psychologically nuanced than the straightforwardly voyeuristic approach of some contemporaries, giving his figures interiority alongside their formal beauty.

The bathing scene is rendered with Chassériau's sensuous warmth, the nude and semi-clothed figures depicted with the combination of classical beauty and romantic atmosphere that distinguished his Orientalist paintings.