Italian Renaissance Depictions of the Ottoman Sultan: Nuances in the Function of Early Modern Italian Portraiture
type: CreativeWork
description: This project was inspired in a fundamental way by an interest in the function of Italian Renaissance portraiture. The essential question is concerned with the expanded functional range of portraiture within the context of early modern cross-cultural engagement between traditional foes. The dissertation casts a spotlight on the relationship between Italy and Ottoman Turkey, the most powerful and prominent of its contemporary Near Eastern counterparts. The first chapter explores the influence of the diplomatic culture particular to Venice on the artistic output -- including drawings, a painted portrait and a portrait medal -- resulting from the late fifteenth-century journey of the city's famous son Gentile Bellini to the Istanbul court of the Ottoman sultan Mehmed II (Mehmed the Conqueror). The representations of the Turkish ruler are discussed as objectively motivated, fact-focused diplomatic "documents" in the spirit of the singularly Venetian tradition of the relazione produced by diplomats of the city upon the completion of diplomatic missions. The second chapter explores the renowned portrait collection of the early sixteenth-century Comasque scholar Paolo Giovio. As part of his assiduously cultivated collection of images of "famous" men and women, Giovio unconventionally possessed portraits of both deceased and contemporary Near Eastern figures. Among these were eleven images of Ottoman sultans. Although the influence of traditional motivations for collecting portraits is in evidence, the collection as a whole can also be fruitfully explored as a reflection of the scholar's lifelong interest in history and its chronicling. The unconventional inclusion of Near Eastern and other foreign figures suggests his preoccupation with global interconnection. His carefully crafted textual treatment of the figures -- he eventually composed brief eulogies to hang beneath each of the portraits -- suggests the precariousness of attempting to handle neutrally the Near Eastern "…
abstract: This project was inspired in a fundamental way by an interest in the function of Italian Renaissance portraiture. The essential question is concerned with the expanded functional range of portraiture within the context of early modern cross-cultural engagement between traditional foes. The dissertation casts a spotlight on the relationship between Italy and Ottoman Turkey, the most powerful and prominent of its contemporary Near Eastern counterparts. The first chapter explores the influence of the diplomatic culture particular to Venice on the artistic output -- including drawings, a painted portrait and a portrait medal -- resulting from the late fifteenth-century journey of the city's famous son Gentile Bellini to the Istanbul court of the Ottoman sultan Mehmed II (Mehmed the Conqueror). The representations of the Turkish ruler are discussed as objectively motivated, fact-focused diplomatic "documents" in the spirit of the singularly Venetian tradition of the relazione produced by diplomats of the city upon the completion of diplomatic missions. The second chapter explores the renowned portrait collection of the early sixteenth-century Comasque scholar Paolo Giovio. As part of his assiduously cultivated collection of images of "famous" men and women, Giovio unconventionally possessed portraits of both deceased and contemporary Near Eastern figures. Among these were eleven images of Ottoman sultans. Although the influence of traditional motivations for collecting portraits is in evidence, the collection as a whole can also be fruitfully explored as a reflection of the scholar's lifelong interest in history and its chronicling. The unconventional inclusion of Near Eastern and other foreign figures suggests his preoccupation with global interconnection. His carefully crafted textual treatment of the figures -- he eventually composed brief eulogies to hang beneath each of the portraits -- suggests the precariousness of attempting to handle neutrally the Near Eastern "…
author: Rossi, Nassim Ellie
language: English
keywords: Portrait painting, Italian, Painting, Renaissance, Battle of Lepanto (Greece : 1571), Murad III, Sultan of the Turks, 1546-1595, Veronese, 1528-1588, Giovio, Paolo, 1483-1552, Bellini, Gentile, -1507, Ṣoḳollu Meḥmed Paşa, 1505-1579
date published: 2013
date modified: 2026-07-24T01:44:27Z
provider: Columbia University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Columbia University

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.7916/D8KS6ZSD