Portrait of a Mameluke, said to be Roustam Raza (ca. 1781–1845)  1810

This early portrait by Vernet, the leading French battle painter of the nineteenth century, depicts one of the Mameluke soldiers who long comprised the military caste of Egypt. He is traditionally identified as Roustam Raza, who entered Napoleon’s personal service in Cairo in 1799 and remained with him until 1814. The genesis and early history of the portrait are unknown, ...