Orientalist realism claimed universal humanity while marking its subjects exotic

Evidence

Interestingly, the commentator saw no contradiction between Doré’s personages being just like the occidental reader, yet living in a setting glowing with oriental splendor. What the writer means is that what comes across here is the common humanity of people living in different surroundings, and it comes across convincingly because both their human condition and their distinctive environment are portrayed realistically. — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 205