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Source Description
Richard Cosway was a prolific painter in London, most well-known for his portrait miniatures and drawings, which he made both on commission and as personal exercises or mementos. This drawing features two women who may be fantasized versions of the two wives of Sidi Hadji Abdurrahman Adja, a Tripolitan ambassador who visited London in 1786. A published account of the ambassador’s home life circulated around this time. Cosway may have invented the ladies as a form of novelistic intrigue when he made a drawing featuring the ambassador.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
540588
label
Two Veiled Young Women, probably Lilla Amnani and Her Sister
core
obj
dtoType
drawing
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
540588
contentType
drawing
title
Two Veiled Young Women, probably Lilla Amnani and Her Sister
description
Richard Cosway was a prolific painter in London, most well-known for his portrait miniatures and drawings, which he made both on commission and as personal exercises or mementos. This drawing features two women who may be fantasized versions of the two wives of Sidi Hadji Abdurrahman Adja, a Tripolitan ambassador who visited London in 1786. A published account of the ambassador’s home life circulated around this time. Cosway may have invented the ladies as a form of novelistic intrigue when he made a drawing featuring the ambassador.
date
1786
citation
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q120401475
creators
3700
genreSpecific
Drawing
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Matted: 38.1 x 29.7 cm (15 x 11 11/16 in.); Sheet: 33 x 25.7 cm (13 x 10 1/8 in.)
cul
England
accession
2023.47
Source extras
tec
graphite, watercolor, red chalk on paper
tombstone
Two Veiled Young Women, probably Lilla Amnani and Her Sister, 1786. Richard Cosway (British, 1742–1821). Graphite, watercolor, red chalk on paper; matted: 38.1 x 29.7 cm (15 x 11 11/16 in.); sheet: 33 x 25.7 cm (13 x 10 1/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund, 2023.47
collection
DR - British
didYouKnow
The unspecific attire of these two ladies, with vaguely Ottoman robes and vaguely Greek headdresses, has led scholars to believe that the artist contrived the ensembles from a costume book rather than from specific people.
citations
citation
Ferrari, Emma, “I Disegni di Riccardo Cosway nella Biblioteca di Lodi,” <em>Rassegna d’Arte </em>XIII (1913)
page_number
144-147, p. 145
creditline
Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund
updatedAt
2026-05-29 09:10:49.540000
sourceId
540588
dept
Drawings
coll
DR - British
med
graphite, watercolor, red chalk on paper
creatorTags
male
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
2ce565bd8b9115bb