Ottoman Period
"Ottoman Period" collects the visual art of the Ottoman Empire (c. 1299-1922), a courtly tradition centered on Istanbul that fused Persian, Central Asian and Byzantine currents. Its best-known form is the Ottoman miniature: bright, densely patterned manuscript painting made in imperial workshops (nakkashane) for chronicles, festival books and poetry, where landscape and topography increasingly took precedence over individualized figures. Around it sat the wider decorative arts - calligraphy and illumination, Iznik ceramics, carpets and textiles. In the nineteenth century, painters trained in the Western academic manner, above all Osman Hamdi Bey and Şeker Ahmed Pasha, opened a new chapter of easel painting, portraiture and art education; the tradition closed with the empire itself in 1922.
Defining characteristics
- Flat, elevated viewpoint with no cast shadows, scenes stacked in bands of landscape or architecture
- Brilliant saturated color with gold highlights, laid in precise unmodulated areas
- Dense ornamental patterning - tile, textile and illumination designs interlocking with figural scenes
- Idealized, generalized faces; courtiers and sultans in stylized profile or three-quarter view
- Topographical precision in cityscapes and campaign narratives
- Calligraphic line and illumination woven into the picture page
Key figures
- Matrakçı Nasuh (1480-c. 1564) — Court miniaturist of topographical campaign narratives such as Beyan-ı Menazil (1537)
- Abdülcelil Levni (d. 1732) — Leading court painter of the early 18th century; illuminator of the Surname-i Vehbi
- Osman Hamdi Bey (1842-1910) — Pioneering easel painter, archaeologist and founder of the Istanbul Academy of Fine Arts
- Şeker Ahmed Pasha (1841-1907) — One of the first Ottoman painters trained in the Western academic manner
Example works
- Beyan-ı Menazil — Matrakçı Nasuh (1537)
- Surname-i Vehbi — Abdülcelil Levni (c. 1720)
- The Tortoise Trainer — Osman Hamdi Bey (1906)
Sources
- Ottoman Period - WikiArt institution