Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer (French, 1865–1953)
Portrait of ‘Naile Hanim’, Mme. Hamdi Bey
Pastel and charcoal on paper, 16 3/4 x 13 3/4 in.
Signed and inscribed lower right: à Madame / Hamdy Bey / Pour reconnaissance / L. Lévy Dhurmer / 1901
2015.2

A practitioner of the late-19th century Symbolist and Art Nouveau movements in France, Lévy-Dhurmer was also a popular portraitist, who excelled in the medium of pastel. His Portrait of ‘Naile Hanim,’ Mme. Hamdi Bey (1901) is an intimate portrait dedicated by the artist to the sitter, the second wife of Osman Hamdi Bey, a prominent Ottoman painter, archaeologist, and administrator.