The Ottoman legacy in European art

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A Journey into the World of the Ottomans

Olga Nefedova (ed.)

In view of this year’s turmoil in the Near East, it may be interesting to recall the multicultural state whose collapse in 1918 led eventually to the establishment of those successor states whose stable futures are now in question.

Several Ottoman sultans and generals had their portraits painted in the European style by Italian artists from the early 16th century onwards.  Even after their defeat at the second siege of Vienna in 1683, the Turks remained a military threat, but nevertheless Europeans took a steadily growing interest in Turkish society.

The artist Jean-Baptiste Vanmour (1631–1737) left a considerable legacy of paintings, providing an accurate representation of many aspects of 18th-century life in Ottoman Turkey.   He worked mostly for the diplomatic circles; his patrons included many ambassadors, and works have been lent by several museums, but the largest group were executed for the Dutch ambassador, Cornelis Calkoen (ambassador 1727–44) and have been lent by the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.  A useful accompaniment to these paintings is a detailed account of the various court ceremonies, taken from contemporary diaries. There are also a number of 18th- and 19th-century Orientalist paintings from the Doha Museums.

This book will be of interest to those interested in the social and cultural history of the Ottoman Empire in the 18th century.  It is a catalogue written to accompany an exhibition ‘A journey into the world of the Ottomans’ staged in Doha from October 2010 to January 2011 and sponsored by the Emirate of Qatar.  This exhibition consisted of European paintings produced from the 16th to the 18th centuries, but contained no Oriental works of art at all.

A Journey into the World of the Ottomans by Olga Nefedova (ed.)

Skira 2011. 196 pp., 100 colour illus, £ 34.95. ISBN 978-88-572-0766-7