Pre-16th Century Art of Turkish Subjects

Authentic

Gentile Bellini

When Sultan Mehmed II asked the Venetian Senate to send him an artist trained in European methods, Venice sent him Gentile Bellini, one of the most highly respected Venetian painters of his day. Bellini was the sultan’s guest from 1479 to 1480. During that time he painted a portrait of Mehmed II and a famous painting of an Ottoman scribe, and made exquisitely detailed sketches of a Janissary and a Druze woman. His works from this time are top-quality, even though the oil paintings are not solely his work. (The portrait of Mehmed II may be painted over, and the painting of the scribe was at least partially colored by an Ottoman artist.)

In later years Bellini added Turkish figures to his works. These depictions are presumably accurate, but since they’re drawn from memory instead of life, they should be taken with a grain of salt.

Invention

Albrecht Dürer, late 15th/early 16th century

Albrecht Dürer drew a few images of Turkish subjects, like his 1496 engraving The Turkish Family. He was clearly copying from other sources. For example, in The Turkish Family, his drawing of the man isn’t bad; the kavuk (foundation cap) of the man’s turban is accurate, although the turban is wound strangely, and the man’s outer coat is a decent attempt at a genuine Turkish coat with hanging sleeves. However, the woman is fantasy, and a weird fantasy at that–wearing nothing but a (male) turban and a cape, under which she is apparently naked.

Nope. Pass.

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