Albanian Soldier

Albanian fighters were a familiar sight across the Ottoman Empire, often hired as guards and irregular troops. This one stands with his musket propped beside him, in a red cap with a dark band, a blue jacket with long, open white sleeves, baggy red-brown trousers and red slippers. A sword and a dagger hang from his sash.

The picture comes from the workshop of Jean Baptiste Vanmour in Istanbul and belongs to a series of costume figures that ended up in Amsterdam. Around 1740 the canvases were numbered so the set could hang in the offices of the Directorate of Levantine Trade, the body that oversaw Dutch commerce with the Ottoman world. Those offices were in the town hall on Dam Square, today the Royal Palace. The soldier's number, 27, is still there in yellow paint in the corner.