Pictorial Representation of Architecture in 15th- and 16th-Century Ottoman Illustrated Manuscripts

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The pictorial representation of architectural structures and elements shaped essentially the form and the aesthetics of Ottoman book painting and played a key role in both its early development (1410s-1550s) and in what was called the "classical" style achieved during its main florescence (1550s-1600s), when patronage and manuscript production at the Ottoman court reached its peak. The proposed research has two primary objectives. First, it aims to analyse how the Persianate, Byzantine, European and possibly even Sephardic Jewish - both pictorial and real architectural - models were reflected and transferred in the Ottoman architectural imagery during the formative period of Ottoman book painting; and to what measure and in which form they were subsequently acquired and shifted by the specifically Ottoman visual idiom. The appropriation of these foreign models is traceable in four main phenomena: the spatial conventions and spatial rendering of architectural representation (perspective, compositional layout, transitionality of space including the relation between interior and exterior etc.); the architectural forms and elements portrayed (open chamber, single-standing pavilion, shouldered arch, opus sectile etc.); the decorative motifs and patterns employed on the surface of the depicted architectural structures (marble texture, triangular brick-lay and hexagonal-tiled motifs on façades, dadoes etc.); and the function and meaning of the architectural representation. At the same time, the possible means of transmission of the aforementioned models are examined.The second objective of the research is to explore the transformation of Ottoman architectural imagery towards its specifically Ottoman conception - emerged in the 1550s on the basis of the synthesis of the aforementioned foreign models, mainly due to the reformulations in the function of book painting that resulted from imperial ideology and, consequently, an increasingly extensive dialogue with actual Ottoman architecture. This focuses on several issues: the emancipation process of Ottoman architectural representation from the Persianate, Byzantine and European idioms; the matter of the authenticity of formal mimesis in depictions of actual buildings; the painters' reflection of the stylistic shifts within Ottoman architecture (particularly these of chief architects Alaeddin and Sinan); and the visual translation of aesthetics, social role and hierarchy, decorative programmes and architectural forms of the Topkapi Palace, Sinan's imperial mosques, Ottoman public spaces (Atmeydani Square with the Ibrahim Pasa Palace, Divan Yolu etc.) and others into the medium of painting. The conception of space as one of the main characteristics of architecture is addressed throughout. The notions of separation, enclosure, continuum or the extension of the sultan's body as an expression of his majesty is considered in regard to the Ottoman pictorial representation of architecture. The text-image relationship is explored in the cases of both the belles-lettres genres and historiographies. The research project mainly employs the methods of formal and comparative analysis. It juxtaposes the illustrations of particular venues and buildings, and compares them not only to one another and to actual structures, but also to additional contemporary textual and visual sources, in order to trace the 15th- and 16th-century appearances when layers of palimpsest.The crucial driving force behind this research endeavour is to uncover not just the early cultural multiplicity of approaches toward Ottoman architecture and book painting, but also their interaction and possible mutual influence. Thus, using the unique case of the pictorial representation of architecture in the corpus of approximately 120 manuscripts...