Turkish women in Istanbul area, Jean Baptiste Vanmour, between 1720 and 1737

A group of turkish women sitting on the ground in a landscape near constantinople watch a phenomenon in the shape of a human figure (constellation?) in the sky. It looks as if an old underpainting is showing through the layer of paint, but the blurry ghostly appearance in the air is indeed intended that way. The story behind this painting is unknown. Perhaps vanmour has depicted a turkish folk tale or is it the hallucinations of the opium-smoking women? collection: paintings; vanmour series. Object Type: painting. Date: between 1720 and 1737. Dimensions: Height: 44 cm (17.3 in) Width: 58 cm (22.8 in). Medium: oil on canvas. Collection: Rijksmuseum. Turkse vrouwen in de omgeving van Istanbul Rijksmuseum SK-A-2006