1839
watercolor
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
The Favourite Odalisque is a 1839 watercolor by Thomas Allom, a Orientalism work, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.
This watercolor shows three women lounging in a room with rich fabrics and soft light. One woman sits up straight. The others recline on cushions. Their clothes look draped and loose. Allom never visited a real harem. He built this scene from travel stories and his own imagination. The style is loose and quick, like a sketch you’d do on vacation. Check out more of his work at the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Thomas Allom’s watercolour *The Favourite Odalisque* depicts an imagined harem interior with a Circassian or Georgian slave at the forefront, positioned as the master’s favored companion. Two women gaze from a window in the background, while two additional figures occupy the scene further back. The work was created as a plate for the 1840 publication *Character and Costume in Turkey and Italy*, later reproduced as a lithograph under the title *The Odalique or Favorite of the Harem, Constantinople*. Allom, trained as an architect, produced numerous topographical illustrations for travel books…
Read the full account in the museum source.
Thomas Allom (13 March 1804 – 21 October 1872) was an English architect, artist, and topographical illustrator.
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