Maronite Woman of Lebanon - A study A photograph by French photographer Tancrède Dumas became the inspiration behind famed artworks. This paintings are incredibly fascinating of a Christian Maronite woman in Lebanon, almost a study of fashion at the time. In the paintings her costume is in color and gives us an insight of colors and trims, and details they used at the time. Orientalist painters were fascinated by the sensuality of the East, against the stiffness and rigidness of European dress.