Miner Kilbourne Kellogg, born Manlius - Turkish Lady of Constantinople - 1845 - T-Shirt

A seated woman in a yellow robe and striped headscarf sits turned in three-quarter view, her head lowered and her hands folded in her lap, captured in coloured crayon and pencil on warm buff paper.

Visual Elements & Composition

Parchment tones fill most of the sheet, with pale ochre and yellow carrying the robe and the figure's presence. The headscarf is striped in pink, red and yellow, and a bright accent of blue and red marks the bodice. A band of striped colour runs along one sleeve. The colour is spent on the garments rather than the setting, so the costume reads first. Graphite lines define the figure, and the lower part of the drawing dissolves into loose, sketched strokes. The inscription in the lower left reads "Turkish Lady of Constantinople" and is dated May 1845.

Meaning & Symbolism

The drawing is a study of dress and bearing. Travelling artists of the 1840s made images like this to record the costume of women in Constantinople, and the period's fascination with that costume shows throughout the sheet. Miner Kilbourne Kellogg, born in Manlius, New York, was an American painter who travelled in Europe and the Near East in the 1840s. This study is one of his figure drawings from that journey, and its mix of coloured crayon and graphite shows the range of media he used. The lowered head and folded hands give the portrait a quiet, reflective air.

On the Unisex Heavy Cotton Tee

The study is a small, intimate figure, so it suits a shirt worn close to the body, where the headscarf, robe and bodice colours are seen at close range. The composition centres on one seated figure with open parchment around her, which places the artwork well on the chest, where the eye settles on the costume and the lowered gaze.