In this exhibition, organized at the prestigious Barber Institute of Fine Arts under the university, there is a giant portrait of the ambassador Abdelouahed ben Messaoud ben Mohammed Anoun, dispatched in the year 1600 by the Saadian Sultan Ahmed al-Mansour to the court of Queen Elizabeth I in order to establish the bases of an alliance between Morocco and England: witness to a long history of friendship between the two Kingdoms.
The portrait is of particular importance because it reflects the richness of relations between Morocco and Great Britain, Tony Moran of the University of Birmingham told MAP, stressing that the establishment of relations between Great Britain and Morocco under Queen Elizabeth I, marked a fundamental shift in British foreign policy focused at the time on the European neighborhood.
The oldest known British painting of a Muslim figure, the portrait of the Moroccan envoy is on display until the end of January at the Barber Institute.
The illustrious diplomat whose mission was to deepen diplomatic and commercial ties between Great Britain and Morocco, had a profound impact on the British cultural scene of the time. Ambassador Anoun was a source of inspiration for Shakespeare, one of the great playwrights and writers of English literature, notably in his famous play Othello.
“This portrait is a powerful symbol of the deep historical ties between Morocco and the United Kingdom, which date back more than eight centuries,” said the Moroccan ambassador to the United Kingdom, Hakim Hajoui, quoted in a press release from the University of Birmingham, received by MAP.
“Seeing the portrait at the Barber Institute at the University of Birmingham highlights the vital role that academic and cultural institutions play in preserving and celebrating our shared history,” he added.
For her part, Clare Mullett, head of research and cultural collections at the University of Birmingham, underlined that “Abdelouahed Anoun’s mission to the court of Queen Elizabeth I represented a major event in the history of diplomatic and cultural exchanges between Europe and the Islamic world.
It is “one of the most striking memories of British history at the turn of the 17th century”, she said, saying she was “delighted” to exhibit this emblematic portrait of the Tudor period at the Barber Institute , “where it has its rightful place in this collection of Art of global importance”.
The University of Birmingham had loaned the portrait to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 2022, as a key part of the touring exhibition ‘The Tudors: Art and Majesty in Renaissance England’. The painting was also exhibited at the Cleveland Museum of Art (Ohio) and the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco in 2023.
Part of the university’s cultural and research collections, the masterpiece has been on loan to the Barber, the university’s art museum and collection, since June, and will remain on display until the galleries close for a building upgrade from January 27.
The editorial team/Le7tv
