baris kibris.y western artists can be insidious, and it often occurred unconsciously. the special collection at the pera museum allows us to trace the evolution of this world view, and i've been excited for a while about coming face—to—face with this sumptuous, pastel portrait which has been taken out of storage for me. it's by a wonderful 18th century swiss artist who i think deserves to be much better known, jean—etienne liotard. looking at it with me is pera museum curator, baris kibris. baris, i'm really happy that you could bring this out of the stores for us, because its stunning. it's such a ravishing work of art. tell me a little bit about the artist. he was a swiss artist. he was one of the first masters of pastel painting in the 18th century. in fact, he lived here in turkey for four years. he starts dressing, right, in turkish costume? exactly. he grows a very long beard. i think he was even known as �*the turk�*. it was kind of a marketing, and it worked. he was enormously successful, w

looking at it with me is pera museum curator, baris kibris. at you could bring this out of the stores for us, because it's stunning. it's such a ravishing work of art. tell me a little bit about the artist. he was a swiss artist. he was one of the first masters of pastel painting in the 18th century. he lived here in turkey for four years. he starts dressing, right, in turkish costume? exactly. he grows a very long beard. i think he was even known as �*the turk�*. it was kind of a marketing, and it worked. he was enormously successful, wasn't he? he was. he painted lots of aristocrats in different cities of europe. there is a story that when he's in constantinople, there is a particular model, very beautiful, who catches his eye. he draws her in various poses. this is one picture which is made from one of those drawings, and then that's a sort of source for later on, when he returns to europe, and with various clients, he can say, "look, if you dress up in this, i've brought this "as well, i've got the dress here. "you could look as beautiful a