A Woman in Turkish Dress

Liotard painted various models in the same pose, same Turkish costume and similar background. In the note behind one of these paintings, which is presently in the Musée d’Art et d’Histoire in Geneva and was done in the early 1750’s, it is written that the lady depicted is a certain Mimica, a young Greek whom Liotard met while in Istanbul. Another of these models is Maria Gunning (1733-1760), Countess of Coventry, wife of George William Coventry 6th Earl of Coventry and society hostess. The oldest similar version by this painter is a counterproof at the Louvre Museum, based on a lost drawing.