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This image is unusual for Mancini in subject and treatment. Both have their counterparts in contemporary Orientalist paintings of harem life that were popular in Europe, particularly with the acclaimed French academic painter Jean-Léon Gérôme. Mancini's relationship to Gérôme is largely unexplored, though there are many hints as to its potential significance. Both were intimately connected to the Goupil Gallery in Paris, and Mancini mentioned visiting Gérôme's studio, perhaps more than once. The French master was in turn impressed by Mancini, calling him a "phenomenon," and saying that singular "pictorial temperaments like that of Mancini are born only in Italy."