yes. let's talk about the actual picture itself. what's going on? there's this figure associated with music who's really contemplating a group of tortoises at his feet. some people think that these tortoises are representing the bureaucracy, which is difficult to change, slowly changing bureaucracy of ottoman times. but this is painted for a european audience, and i don't expect they could understand the meaning. that's interesting you say that, because i've certainly come across this interpretation where, if you look at the background, you can see all of this peeling off plaster. the brickwork is exposed. quite clearly, there are cobwebs running up the interior of the arch, and lots of people have thought "ah, painted 1906 — the very final years of the ottoman empire". and they've put all of these things together and given a sort of subversive political reading to this painting. but i'm sensing it's not one that you buy. chuckles no, i don't buy that. but i buy this. he wasn't a typical orientalist. i mean, orientalism liked idle figures doing nothing. but he painted people