By the time of Süleyman the Magnificent the Ottoman Empire was a full-fledged member of the European family of states. It was in that brilliant period that a Turkish miniaturist emerged who would join East and West in his works.
His name was Matrakçi Nasûh.
The birth and death dates of this universal Renaissance artist of the Ottoman Empire are not known with any certainty.
But one thing is sure, Matrakçi Nasûh was an extremely multi-faceted individual like the universal intellectual figures of Renaissance Italy. Historian, mathematician, calligrapher and painter, he was also a soldier and a sportsman. He was known as ‘Matrakçi’ for inventing the game ‘matrak’, a type of fencing match played with elegant dance-like steps, using a wooden stick and round pillow instead of a sword and shield. Such an expert player was Nasûh that Süleyman actually issued a decree in 1529 declaring him to be unique and unmatched in the sport.
CITY PLANS IN MINIATURE
But what interests us here are Nasûh’s topographical miniatures. Although some of his works include animals such as bird and rabbits, humans are never depicted. In his city miniatures, this master-artist created a spanking new genre using his inimitable technique and method. So fine is his work that it is possible to pick out individual buildings and to examine the natural environment and plant cover in his miniatures. Depicting his subjects from a bird’s eye view, at the same time he also represented them frontally as in a picture.
The most important of his four historic volumes of miniatures is that of Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent’s first Iran-Iraq campaign in 1534-35. As well as illustrating how the Ottoman army marched from Istanbul to Baghdad and then Tabriz and how it returned via Aleppo and Eskisehir, he also includes all the cities they passed along the way. The Library of Istanbul University houses the sole copy of this matchless work today.
ISTANBUL FROM ONE END TO THE OTHER
Nasûh’s miniature of Istanbul, which covers two pages, is a work of art in its own right. Shown in this miniature are the buildings, gardens, squares, palaces and mosque complexes of the city, which is depicted in three sectors – the old city of Istanbul, Galata and a small portion of Üsküdar. Most important however is that we can find here details regarding buildings and other places that no longer exist today. No trace remains, for example, of the first palace that Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror had built in Istanbul. But in Nasûh’s miniature we can see the Old Palace in detail, situated where
the central building of Istanbul University stands today. Matrakçi Nasûh’s second book of miniatures is the Annals of Sultan Bayezid, which contains 10 miniatures depicting the cities and fortresses of Kilia, Akkerman, Lepanto, Modon and Gülek as well as the Ottoman fleet.
MEDITERRANEAN PORT CITIES
The cities of the Mediterranean coast are depicted in order in the first section of a magnificent work in two volumes known as the Süleymannâme about the Mediterranean campaigns of the Ottoman fleet. The Hungarian campaigns form the subject of the other volume. If you like, let us take a quick glance at the history of these campaigns. Süleyman the Magnificent was an ally of his contemporary, Francis I, King of France, who had turned his country into a very powerful state through a series of reforms. Recovering the Milan region which France had previously lost, Francis I had signed a treaty with the king of Spain, Charles I. But the Spanish king was unable to prevent Charles V from being chosen emperor, a development that paved the way to hostility between the two monarchs. Francis I was the first to initiate hostilities. Meeting with defeat, however, he not only lost Milan but was also taken prisoner.
Meanwhile the mother of the French king sent the Ottoman sultan two letters on behalf of herself and her son, requesting assistance in the war against Charles V and the mounting of a Hungarian campaign. Replying in the affirmative, Süleyman organized the Mohacs campaign and succeeded in getting Francis I freed. The two rulers now had a common enemy in Charles V.
MATRAKÇI PAINTS THE MEDITERRANEAN FROM A GALLEY
The Mediterranean was turned into a Turkish lake during the reign of Süleyman the Magnificent. Rhodes, Belgrade, Algiers, Tunis, Coron and Lepanto were taken, and peace was concluded with Venice, the Ottomans’ long-standing rival in the Mediterranean. Again offering his assistance to his ally Francis I, Süleyman dispatched a fleet to him in 1543. When the Ottoman fleet, consisting of 110 galleys commanded by Grand Admiral Hayreddin Barbarossa Pasha, arrived at the southern shores of France, Toulon was captured and liberated and Nice too was taken and restored to France.
Wasting no time, the fleet launched attacks on the French, Spanish and Italian coastal cities. It was during this campaign that there was an artist on board: Matrakçi Nasûh, who painted a miniature of every city they visited, and of the Ottoman fleet anchored off every port – Genoa, Nice, Toulon, Marseilles and Antibes. The fortress (Fort Carré) built by Francis I is still standing today. Antibes is depicted in two miniatures in the book, the first showing the city itself, the second Mt Antibes. Matrakçi Nasûh, who lived in the Ottoman golden age, painstakingly represented in his miniature paintings all the details he observed. His works are therefore in the nature of important documents that throw light on the architecture and the state of urbanization in the period.