During the second half of the nineteenth century, French, German and English magazines published illustrations of the island of Cyprus in an effort to introduce it to their public. The French illustrations are particularly interesting because they are influenced by the French attitudes and perspectives. Look at the girl carrying baskets of grapes during the harvest. Certainly not typically of a Cypriot labourer. She is upright, wears her scarf like the women of Arles, carries two full and heavy baskets of grapes under the sizzling sun of the island! She should be bent in two from the weight! She is wearing a necklace! All this presentation aims at making this illustration more understandable by and closer to the French public. The elegance of the woman, her clothes, her jewellery, her posture, brings her closer to what the French public knows and appreciates. Afterall, Cyprus should be appreciated by the French who were eyeing the island during the deterioration of the Ottoman Empire.
PNT-00328 > Arthur Legge (1859-1942), Bazaar, Watercolour, 25x29cm, 1928
You can see this exhibit up close, along with many others, on the ramp leading to the 1st floor of CVAR.
