Bargue, Charles - A Bashi - Bazouk - 1875

Charles Bargue (c. 1826/1827 – April 6th, 1883) was a French painter and lithographer noted for devising an influential drawing course.

The figure depicted here is a mercenary of the Ottoman Empire. The Turkish term for him is bashi-bazouk, which translates as “headless.” These men fought for plunder, an association that gave Bargue license to employ his virtuosic painting technique to paint finery such as the silk garments and narghile, or water pipe.