Two Orientals seated under a Tree

Two men in turbans are seated under a tree that provides little shade. One has his back to us; the other shows off his glorious costume, a bushy moustache giving him extra character. He clutches a jar and looks across the scene, though his eyes are hidden by his headwear.Depictions of people in ‘oriental’ dress (from around the Eastern Mediterranean) were very popular during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Such subjects were especially popular in prints: we know that Giovanni Battista Tiepolo studied and owned several ‘oriental’ prints by seventeenth-century artists such as Rembrandt and Castiglione.This is one of four decorative panels commissioned from Tiepolo by the Cornaro family for their villa in northern Italy. The others are also in the National Gallery’s collection: Seated Man, Woman with Jar, and Boy, Two Men in Oriental Costume and Rinaldo turning in Shame from the Magic Shield.