Odalisque is a word of Turkish origin that was used to refer to the slaves of a harem.
The harem was the part of the palace where all the women of the place lived. There lived the sultan's wives, his daughters and his sisters, all under the organization and care of his mother.
Odalisques were slaves, bought in markets or abducted, who were trained to serve as servants in the harem. In order to serve the sultan and his wives, odalisques were taught to dance, recite poems, and play instruments.
According to the etymology the word has its origin in the French Turkish term odaliq.
More recently, the term odalisque has come to be used to refer to attractive-looking women.
Learn more about the meaning of Harem.
the odalisque in art
The figure of the odalisque is very present in arts in general, especially in painting. The odalisque appears quite frequently in the period of romanticism and neoclassicism.
The figure of the odalisque appears very often in the work of the French painter Henri Matisse. Examples are the paintings "Odalisca with red pants" and "The sleeping odalisque".
Another well-known work is "The Great Odalisque", by Frenchman Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres, which is on display at the Louvre Museum.
See too Romanticism and 5 Characteristics of Romanticism.