The Victorian market for Ottoman types

Abstract

The advent of photography coincided with an increased demand in Europe for representations of life and culture in non-Western areas. Throughout the second half of the nineteenth century, European travel photographers and indigenous studios in major non-Western capitals responded by marketing images of men and women classified as ‘types’ in their sales catalogues. Favoured subjects were individuals or groups readily encountered on the street who were believed to display essential characteristics shared by the majority of the population.