Princess Nazli Fazil Portrait Pastel on Paper

Description

Possibly Willem Ferdinand Abraham Isaac 'Willem' Vaarzon Morel (Dutch, 1868-1955). Pastel on paper portrait drawing of Egyptian Princess Nazli Zainab Hanim Fazil. Depicting the princess dressed in a Belle Epoque European style. Signed "W. Morel" along the lower left. Beard Art Gallery framing label verso.

Lot Essay:
Princess Nazli Zainab Hanim (Hanem) Fazil (1853-1913) the eldest child of Mustafa Fazil Pasha and his wife Dilazad Hanim, was one of the most influential women in Egypt and the Ottoman Empire. Princess Nazli established a literary salon at her palace in Cairo where she broke with strict Ottoman tradition and hosted men and women simultaneously. Statesmen, poets, generals, and foreign diplomats gathered under her auspices to discuss world affairs. Guests included: Grand Mufti of Egypt Muhammad 'Abduh, Prime Minister Saad Zaghloul, Lord Kitchener, Lawrence of Arabia, King Edward VII, Margot Asquith Countess of Oxford, Lady Romilly, the Danish painter Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann, Madame Ijlal Rushdi Pasha and more. Family memoirs state that when Qasim Amin, initially a fervent opponent of women's rights, visited Nazli’s salon, he was so astonished by her intelligence and sharp political debate that he changed his position and became an advocate for women’s emancipation in Egypt, leading him to write his seminal work The Liberation of Women.

Through portraitists and photographers, artists and public interviews, Princess Nazli carefully crafted her public image as a beautiful woman, an intellectual, and an unofficial diplomat. In an 1899 interview with The Gentlewoman, an English magazine, Princess Nazli positioned herself as a bridge between the Orient and the Occident, intentionally leaning into Orientalizing tropes to situate herself advantageously amongst the British elite. When the interviewer asked what reforms Nazli would like to see in the Ottoman world, she replied, the abolition of the Harem system and the education of the lower classes. Throughout her life, Nazli deliberately exercised soft power like this to advance her position and the causes she championed. This pastel portrait of Princess Nazli in the fashionable Western dress of the Belle Epoque and unveiled (regardless of Ottoman conventions at the time) is another example of that soft power.

Provenance: Princess Nazli Zainab Hanim Fazil, by descent to Hatidjeh Fouad Izzet Riaz (1897-1985) of the Muhamed Ali Dynasty.

Reference: Hatidjeh Fouad Izzet, "Memories," p. 21, for the photo this work is based off of.
Sight; height: 35 in x width: 24 1/2 in. Framed; height: 37 1/2 in x width: 27 1/4 in x depth: 2 in.

Condition

There is a diagonal tear along the lower left quadrant measuring approximately 22 inches in length. There are two, small vertical tears to the sheet along the upper edge, the largest measuring approximately 2 inches in length. There is a horizontal tear along the central, left edge measuring approximately 2 inches in length. There are areas of skimming, resulting in losses to the pigment, along the upper edge of the sheet. Framed under glass. Light wear to the frame. Work not inspected out of frame.

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