Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror
Artist: Follower of Gentile Bellini (Venetian, 1429-1507) Date: Early 16th century Medium: Oil on panel Collection: Private Collection
Mehmed the Conqueror
As ruler of the expanding Islamic Ottoman Empire, Sultan Mehmet II was one of the most powerful men in the world when this portrait was painted. Fascinated by portraiture and European culture, he sent a request for a painter to the Venetian authorities in 1479. Gentile Bellini, having recently completed a series of portraits of the doges (elected rulers) of Venice, was well qualified for the task.
In 1453 Ottoman sultan Mehmed II "the Conqueror" shook Europe by capturing Constantinople (modern day Istanbul), which had been the capital of the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire for more than a millennium. He had prepared carefully for an assault on the city, gathering a navy of 320 vessels and an army of up 200,000 troops, and building a fortress, Rumerlihisari, on the European side of the Bosporus to Match an existing one on the Asian side and enforce control of the strait.
The Ottomans took the city on May 29 after a fifty-seven-day siege. Mehmed claimed the title of Caesar of Rome. He also conquered Anatolia and much of southeast Europe. An Ottoman army even invaded Italy in 1480 and Pope Sixtus IV, fearing they meant to take Rome, tried to raise a crusade against him - but at the end of the invasion led to a negotiated settlement.
At home Mehmed rebuilt much of Constantinople. He ordered the transformation of the famous fourth-century church of Hagia Sophia into a mosque. He presided over a highly cultured court that promoted learning and was patron of many Renaissance artists, including Gentile Bellini, who painted his portrait in 1480.
Known for:
Capturing Constantinople
Being a patron of the arts
Conquering vast territories
