Sephardic Women of Tangier: A Portrait

1832

Watercolor featuring seated young woman in beaded headdress and flowing dress, and another woman in shawl leaning over her. — In 1832, just two years after the French conquest of Algeria, French artist Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863) traveled to North Africa, creating a series of paintings and drawings that exoticized scenes of daily life in Algeria and Morocco. At the time, the Western world was swept up in a fascination with what they called "Oriental" culture, encompassing Asian, Mediterranean, and North African styles of dress, decor, and customs. While in Tangier, his delegation was accompanied by Abraham Benchimol (Ben-Chimol), a translator with the French consulate who also acted as a guide and adviser to Delacroix. Benchimol introduced the artist to Tangier’s Sephardic culture, taking him to a synagogue and a Jewish wedding. Delacroix painted this portrait of Benchimol’s wife, Saada, and his daughter, Préciada, on the day of Préciada’s marriage.

Credits

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, bequest of Walter C. Baker, 1971.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 6.

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Discussion Questions

How does the color palette that Delacroix chose for his painting of the Jewish women from Tangier influence the way we see them?
Do you think Algerian Jewish women wore clothes like these on a daily basis in the early 1800s? How might their dress have distinguished them from their Muslim neighbors?
What indicators of economic class and status do you read in this painting?