Muhammad Ali Pasha 

We learned about Muhammad Ali Pasha in AP European History this year. Today I stumbled across this nice painting of him by Auguste Couder. I love the brightness of his turban as well as the realism of his beard. 

Muhammad Ali Pasha was an Albanian who was the Wali, or Ottoman governor, to Egypt and Sudan from 1769-1849. He later declared himself the Khedive, or viceroy, of Egypt and Sudan. He is considered the founder of modern Egypt because of his military, economic, and cultural reforms. The dynasty he established ruled Egypt and Sudan until the Egyptian Revolution of 1852.