Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824 -1904) was a French painter and sculptor whose paintings were so widely reproduced, that by 1880 he was considered one of the most famous living artists.
In 1856 he travelled to Egypt, and Albanian soldiers unexpectedly became a prominent theme of his work.

Egypt, was ruled by an Albanian dynasty at that time, founded by Mehmed Ali Pasha (1769-1849), and so a large colony of Albanians settled by the Nile.
Gérôme, like Byron a few decades earlier, was fascinated by their magnificent costumes, their weapons and their swagger.

Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824-1904), ‘An Albanian in Cairo’ private collection, USA.

Jean-Léon Gérôme.’A Seated Albanian’, Cairo.

Albanian Standing at a Wall’, Attributed to Gérôme’s private collection.

Jean-Léon Gérôme: ‘Albanians Playing Chess’ 1859. Wallace Collection, London.

Jean-Léon Gérôme: ‘An Albanian and his Dog also known as A Bashi-Bazouk and his Dog’, 1865, private collection.

Jean-Léon Gérôme: ‘Albanian Officer’ 1894. Tanenbaum Collection, Toronto.

Jean-Léon Gérôme: An Albanian in Syria, also known as An Albanian with Two Whippets, 1867, private collection, Greenwich, Connecticut.

Jean-Léon Gérôme: Old Clothing Merchant Seller in Cairo, 1866, private collection.

Jean-Léon Gérôme, ’Albanian Patrol in Cairo’, 1870.

Jean-Léon Gérôme: Young Greeks at the Mosque, also known as Albanians in Prayer (Arnaoutes en prière), 1865.