l'ensorceleuse (1878)
Here are a few more nice harem girls by Spanish born artist Luis Ricardo Falero (1851-1896) whose The Favourite we looked at a few weeks ago.
Our second lady looks rather aristocratic to be a harem girl so it is more likely that she is supposed to be some sort of generic North African woman. The two below, however, look like they are in the harem for one purpose only.
In 1896 a lady called Maud Harvey launched a successful paternity suit against Falero caliming he had "seduced" her. As a seventeen year old Harvey had been recruited as his housemaid and later became one of his models. When Falero found she was pregnant he dismissed her and although he promised financial support it never appeared, forcing Howard to go to court where she was awarded five shillings a week. Falero, didn't have to pay for long, however, as he died on 7th December that year, at the age of 45.
The final painting, The Snake Charmer, isn't specifically orientalist in subject but is very similar in feel so we have included it anyway and who knows what exotic entertainement skills were expected of harem girls, anyway?
