Portrait of a Child with a Doll

In this traditionally oval-shaped portrait, the child’s penetrating glance reveals a complex personality. Guillemet’s portrait illustrates the cultural shift of depicting the emotional life of children, not just their conventional social status. For the last decade of his life, Guillemet worked at the Ottoman court of the Grand Sultan Abdülaziz I in Constantinople (present day Istanbul) painting portraits and frescoes in the Dolmabahçe Palace. This portrait might depict a member of the Sultan’s court, possibly even one of the ten children he fathered with his six wives. Prince Shehzade Muhammed Shefket Efendi, who would have been five years old when this portrait was painted, could be a likely candidate.