Moroccan ambassador to UK comes face to face with predecessor from 400 years ago

Hakim Hajoui views portrait of Abd el-Ouahed ben Messaoud ben Mohammed Anoun at Barber Institute of Fine Arts

Hakim Hajoui, Morocco’s ambassador to the UK, with the portrait. Photo: University of Birmingham

Morocco’s ambassador to the UK has viewed a portrait of his predecessor from more than 400 years ago, a diplomat believed to have been the inspiration for Shakespeare’s Othello.

Hakim Hajoui visited the Barber Institute of Fine Arts at the University of Birmingham to see the painting, called Portrait of the Moroccan Ambassador Abd el-Ouahed ben Messaoud ben Mohammed Anoun. It is the earliest known British painting of a Muslim figure.

The diplomat led a delegation to London in 1600 to deepen trade, improve ties between Britain and Morocco and try to forge an alliance against Spain, staying in the capital for six months. He met with the queen, Elizabeth I, several times during his trip.

Mr Hajoui, who visited the university, which has a campus in Dubai, to learn more about its connections to Morocco and the Middle East, called the portrait “a powerful symbol of the deep historical ties between Morocco and the United Kingdom, dating back over eight centuries”.

“Seeing it here at the Barber Institute at the University of Birmingham underscores the vital role academic and cultural institutions play in preserving and celebrating our shared history,” he said.

The portrait of Abd Al Wahid bin Mas'ud bin Muhammad bin ’Anuri is on display at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts at the University of Birmingham. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

The University of Birmingham lent the portrait to New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2022 for the touring exhibition The Tudors: Art and Majesty in Renaissance England. It was also shown at the Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio and the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco in 2023.

The work vanished from public view until it was sold at auction by Christie's in 1955.

It now belongs to the university’s research and cultural collections and has been on loan to the Barber – the university’s art museum and collection – since June. It will remain on display until the galleries close to prepare for the second phase of essential building improvements on January 27.

Robert Wenley, Deputy Director of Collections and Research at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, told The National the work is very different from the rest of the collection.

"That's one of the reasons we very much wanted to borrow it. We have been looking at reinterpreting the early part of our collection. We have a very straightforward collection of western European art, from the Medieval period up to the late 20th century, telling the story of the development of European art."

But because of that, the portraits predominantly Christian iconography, he said.

"The prime reason to borrow this work was actually that fact as much as anything else, to represent a different religion from Christian orthodox, if you like. He's an ambassador in different ways," added Mr Wenley.

Prof Michael Dobson with the portrait. Photo: University of Birmingham

“Abd el-Ouahed’s visit 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. His arrival highlighted a shift in foreign policy and demonstrated England’s willingness to engage with nations outside Europe.”

Prof Michael Dobson, director of the Shakespeare Institute, previously described the portrait, painted during William Shakespeare’s lifetime, as one of the “most vivid souvenirs of the London in which Shakespeare was living around the time he began dramatising a little Italian short story about a well-travelled Moorish warrior whose allegiances between the Islamic and Christian worlds are called into question".

Shakespeare began work on Othello, which has a "Moor" as its central character, as Christians of that period described Muslims from the Maghreb, within a year of the ambassador's arrival in London.

He and his team of diplomats were seen about town, according to reports of the time, and perhaps even visited the newly opened Globe Theatre, where Shakespeare’s plays were performed.