|
The First Art Newspaper on the Net |
|
Established in 1996 |
|
Tuesday, November 5, 2024 |
|
Christie's to offer six portraits of Ottoman Sultans retracing 250 years of history |
|
|
From left to right: Sultan Orhan, Sultan Bayezid I, Isa Celebi, Sultan Mehmed I, Sultan Selim I and Sultan Selim II. © Christie's Images Ltd 2021.
|
LONDON.- The Art of the Islamic & Indian Worlds live auction on 28 October 2021 will offer a series of six portraits of Ottoman sultans, covering 250 years of history, from 1326, when Orhan became Sultan until Selim II, who passed away in 1574. The original series counted 14 portraits of which only one full set has survived and is today property of the Wittelsbach family and on exhibition in Würzburg.
The series of six paintings to be auctioned is the second largest set in existence dating from circa 1600 and derives from the original set produced in Venice in 1579, at the instigation not, as one might presume, of a European patron, but of the Ottoman Grand Vizier Sokollu Mehmed Pasha (1506-1579).
On 28 June 1578 Sokollu Mehmed Pasha asked Venices resident ambassador in Istanbul, Niccolò Barbarigo, for portraits of Ottoman sultans he heard were in Venice. Barbarigo demurred: he had no knowledge of a set of painted portraits. The Grand Vizier persisted and in November 1578 the Venetian Senate finally commissioned duplicates of these portraits, writing in January 1579 that they were being prepared, and confirming in September that they had been shipped. The paintings must have arrived in Istanbul in late September.
The 1570s was the decade when Veronese served as the Serenissimas official painter, receiving a host of commissions including monumental canvases for the administrative chambers of the Palazzo Ducale. He was the Venetian authorities obvious candidate to fulfil the Ottomans seemingly surprising request for a set of portraits of their own sultans.
These Sultan portraits exemplify some principal characteristics of Veroneses style: the three-quarter bust format which gives the pose dynamism and immediacy by showing more of the figures face and tilting the head. And the textiles are given texture with the most luminous of colours, and the designs particularly of the gold and silver textiles are highly reminiscent of those used elsewhere by Veronese. Above all, each painting exhibits a characterisation and individuality that distinguish these paintings from any other Ottoman imperial portraits, reflecting Veroneses well-known gift for imbuing life and vivacity to his figures.
While Veronese is likely to have designed or given guidance on the design of the series, there are no surviving portraits from any of the known sets that can be attributed to his hand. There are remains of two, possibly three early sets in the Topkapı Palace Museum that on the creation of the museum in 1924 were found in the Imperial Treasury or in the Queen Mothers apartments, suggesting some of them may belong to the paintings sent in 1579.
It also strongly suggests that the two German sets one in Munich and one from Landshut - derived from two slightly different models. In all likelihood one or both of those models was in Venice, and the German sets were produced there. A record of the 1579 commission was surely kept in Venice, and the majority of paintings in both sets are on a twill canvas, the weave favoured in 16th-century Venice. Two or more artists were involved in each of the two German sets: in the present set the portrait of Mehmed I was indisputably painted by a different hand from the other sultans.
The present set can be traced back to the collection of Count Gustav Adelmann von Adelmannsfelden (18581938), and was kept in castle Berg in Bavaria, until 1935.
It is not recorded how the Adelmanns acquired the paintings, but the family had connections with the Ottomans. Konrad von Adelmann published a tract on the Ottoman army in Augsburg in 1525. Gifts were the oil that greased the wheels of diplomacy in the medieval and early modern eras, and the Ottomans made numerous demands to the Venetians. But Sokollu Mehmeds request was no ordinary demand for items of fashion or curiosity or for portraits of past sultans. The Ottoman interest here was not in the paintings as an expression of Venetian art, but as visual documentation, for Sokollu Mehmeds request which was the ultimate genesis of the present paintings was part of a successful imperial initiative to create a definitive portrayal of the House of Osman (estimate GBP 800,000-1,200,000).
|
|
Today's News
September 28, 2021
Bringing a deathly Michelangelo sculpture back to life
Christie's to offer six portraits of Ottoman Sultans retracing 250 years of history
Joan B Mirviss LTD. presents Hori Ichirō's first solo exhibition outside of Japan
Hindman Auctions' Asian art sales surpass estimates & realize over $2.1 million
Exhibition brings together more than 200 paintings, sculptures and drawings made by George Condo
Russian art trove and its tortured history comes to Paris
New works enter the Wadsworth Atheneum Collection
Johnny Ramone's Mosrite guitar sold for $937,500 at auction
Dallas Museum of Art opens "Point, Line, Plane" honoring gift of works on paper
Freeman's to offer extensive collection of Pennsylvania Impressionist paintings
I want it all! Rock group Queen open London store
Lawrie Shabibi announces representation of Mehdi Moutashar
International Center of Photography opens an exhibition by Diana Markosian
James Bond helicopter used in the filming of 'You Only Live Twice' sold for £25,300
'Changing Forms: Metamorphosis in Myth, Art, and Nature, 1650-1700' opens at the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center
Richard Saltoun opens an exhibition of works by Renate Bertlmann, Annette Messager, and Pamela Rosenkranz
Maxine Petry named Executive Director of Pioneer Works
Exhibition at Kunsthaus Pasquart presents Vanessa Billy's work and its development over a period of fifteen years
Exhibition presents works by Raden Saleh, Osman Hamdi Bey, and Hakob Hovnatanyan
Constantina Zavitsanos appointed as 2021-22 Keith Haring Fellow in Art and Activism at Bard College
'Moulin Rouge!' and 'Inheritance' take top honors at Tony Awards
Mark Morris Dance Group debuts 'Water' in its element
John Wilkes Booth broadside, Lincoln White House china set records at Heritage Auctions
Kabul's carpet and antique dealers struggle after foreigners flee
What Are The Best Art Galleries In The World?
Where to learn photography in 2021
List of 20 apps for a daily use
Talents of Gold Presented By RISING STAR Launching in Summer 2022!
RISING STAR to launch exclusive, one of a kind art collection Talents of Gold in June 2022
Zamsino Gets Awarded Best New Website Design in the Gambling Niche
The art of digital art
Mobile Poker for Real Money
Online Video Poker Multi Hands
|
|
|
|
|
Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography, Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs, Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, . |
|
|
|
Royalville Communications, Inc produces:
|
|
|
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful
|
|