GUARDI, Gianantonio
(b. 1699, Wien, d. 1760, Venezia)

The Sultan Being Brought Food and Drink

1742-43
Oil on canvas, 46 x 64 cm
Private collection

The painting is part of a set of forty-three representing Turkish subjects painted in 1742-43 for Field Marshal Count Johann Matthias von der Schulenburg. The subject of this picture can be identified as servants bringing food and drink to the Sultan before a number of dignitaries. The grated windows with floral borders appear in a number of interiors from the series, as does the device of a draped curtain to add to the exoticism and theatricality of the scene.