Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror’s portrait returns to İstanbul

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The portrait of the Ottoman Empire's Sultan Mehmed II, also known as Mehmed the Conqueror, who conquered İstanbul in 1453, has been brought to İstanbul after it was bought by the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) in an auction at the UK's National Gallery on June 25.

Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu told reporters in front of the municipality that "The painting is back home. We are proud of this."

"It now should rest in a special place prepared for it," he said and added that it would be opened to public view after the Friday prayer tomorrow.

The portrait, which is one of the three surviving portraits of Sultan Mehmed, was made by Italian artist Gentile Bellini in 1480. The second person in the portrait is not known.

The IMM bought the painting for 770,000 pounds. The oil painting on canvas is 33.4 cm wide and 45.4 centimeters long. The date November 25, 1480, is noted in Latin letters in the lower right corner of the painting.

About the portrait

The portrait, according to Christie's, is the product of the workshop of Gentile Bellini of Venice, circa 1429-1507. It is an oil on panel portrait and is 33.4cm in height and 45.4 cm in width. It is the last one to remain in private hands, says Christie's. The date Nov. 25, 1480, is written in Latin in the lower right corner of the painting of Mehmed the Conqueror, It is considered one of the most important works by Venetian painter Bellini, who stayed in İstanbul until 1481.

"This painting is one of the three portraits of Sultan Mehmed, who conquered İstanbul, which was made in his own time or near that period. They are owned by private collectors and have survived to the present day. This is a particularly unusual portrait. We see another figure next to the sultan. We still do not know who this person is. This person is said to be one of his three sons, but the little age gap between the two does not quite confirm this theory. Another view is that this person could be European because of his shaven face and white complexion," Sara Plumbly, head of the Islamic and Indian Art Department at Christie's said.

Mehmed the Conqueror, known for his interest in the Renaissance period, invited Italian painter Gentile Bellini (1429-1507) to İstanbul in 1479 and asked him to paint portraits of various people in the palace to be sure of Bellini's talent before allowing him to paint his portrait. (AÖ/VK)