Sotheby's
Sale: L08222 | Location: London
Auction Dates: Session 2: Wed, 08 Oct 08 2:30 PM
LOT 233
THE PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE COLLECTOR
WORKSHOP OF TIZIANO VECELLIO, CALLED TITIAN
(PIEVE DI CADORE C.1490-1576 VENICE), ITALY
A UNIQUELY IMPORTANT PORTRAIT OF SULTAN SULEYMAN
THE MAGNIFICENT
200,000—300,000 GBP
Lot Sold. Hammer Price with Buyer's Premium:
505,250 GBP
MEASUREMENTS
measurements note
72.4 x 61cm. 107.5 x 74.4cm. framed
DESCRIPTION
Oil on Canvas
PROVENANCE
Probably executed for Frederico Gonzaga, Duke of
Mantua, 1538
Bishop Paolo Giovo (1483-1552), Como.
With Commendatore E. Marinuci, Rome, by 1935
Christie's London, 24 March 1961, lot 39; bought
by Agnew's London, where bought by present owner.
EXHIBITED
Venice, Palazzo Ducale, Venezia e l'Islam
828-1797, 28 July - 25 November 2007, cat. no.18,
illustrated in colour p.106.
CATALOGUE NOTE
The present cinquecento painting is a work of
great historical importance. Not only is this
importance on account of its association with
Titian's workshop, but as a representation of the
inter-cultural and political exchange between
Venice and the East and within the context of
notions of portraiture.
Suleyman the Magnificent, the Ottoman Sultan,
ascended the Ottoman throne in 1520 and kept
Western Europe and its leaders Charles V,
Ferdinand I, Clement VII and Paul III in a state
of constant apprehension. He was instrumental in
turning Constantinople (now Istanbul) into a
great intellectual centre (see E. Rossi,
'Solimano I', Enciclopedia Italiana, XXXII, 1936,
p. 76).
Four Titian 'portraits' of Suleyman, are recorded
in contemporary documents (see J.M. Rogers and
R.M. Ward, Suleyman the Magnificent, exhib. cat.
British Museum, London, 1998, p. 46 note 4 and
H.E. Wethey, loc. cit.). The first was that
executed for Federico Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, in
1538. Its execution was delayed due to the lack
of a prototype; an individual called Marcantonio
Motta owned a picture of Suleyman in Venice, but
refused to lend it, and the Duke had to wait
until Titian found a medal or other likenesses,
perhaps a European print, in order to work from.
The present painting is believed to be this
portrait.
The second portrait was mentioned in a letter
dated 7 March 1569, from Bishop Ippolito Capiluti
of Fano, in Venice to Cardinal Ercole Gonzaga,
where he wrote that he was sending a small
picture (quadretto), of a portrait of the Turk by
Titian (Gualandi, 1856, III, p. 20-22). The third
work was recored by Vasari. He reported having
seen a portrait at the della Rovere Court in 1539
(Vasari (1568)- Milanese, VII, p. 444) and a
century later Ridolfi listed the work amongst the
portraits of famous men by Titian, but without
mentioning the owner (Ridolfi (1648)- Hadeln, I,
p. 192). The Urbino inventory of 1631 cites a
portrait of Suleyman II. The fourth portrait
could be that included by Titian in his Ecce Homo
(Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna). Wethey writes
(op. cit., p. 204, no.4) that there is mention in
a letter dated 20 September 1578 written by
Niccolo Barbarigo from Constantinople to the
Signoria of Venice that he once saw in Titian's
house a neglected portrait of Soliman on
Horseback, this might describe the above
mentioned painting in Vienna. The Sultan is
included at the edge, on horseback, in profile,
but also bearded. The present portrait, or,
indeed, the above mentioned two other versions
may have provided the model for the Ecce Homo.
Given such a diversity of prototypes it might be
expected that European depictions of the Sultan
would differ considerably, but the Suleyman
portraits, variously attributed to Titian's
workshop and followers, do in fact show a degree
of uniformity, which does suggest that they were
based upon the same single source. Titian's use
of assistants is well documented, indeed for his
Muhlberg protrait of Charles V he is known to
have involved seven assistants. The existence of
several versions of the same portrait of Suleyman
certainly points to the possible involvement of
other hands in their creation.
A profile of the portrait of Suleyman the
Magnificent was mentioned by Benedetto Agnello in
a letter of 23 August 1538 to Duke Federico
Gonzaga (5th Marquis, 1st Duke) as having been
executed from a medal, thus explaining the
profile format (see Crowe and Cavalcaselle, loc.
cit.; Braghirolli loc. cit. and Donati, loc.
cit.). In addition, the inventory of the Mantuan
collection of 1627 includes mention of 'un
ritratto di Selim re dei Turchi nella loggietta
verso el giardino del paviglione', most probably
a reference to the present portrait. The Gonzaga
link with Titian is one which is well documented.
Titian is believed to have been introduced to
Federico Gonzaga by Pietro Arentino (1492- 1556),
as a result of which Titian painted the Duke's
portrait in 1523 and was thereafter employed by
the Duke on a regular basis from 1528. If the
present painting was painted for Federico it must
post-date 1528, which would be in keeping with
other portraits of the period and their facial
treatment such as that of the Duke with his dog
in the Prado and also the portrait of a man in
armour (possibly a Gonzaga) dated circa 1530
(private collection, illustrated in Splendours of
the Gonzaga exhib. cat., D. Chambers and J.
Martineau (eds.), Victoria and Albert Museum,
London, 1981, p. 184, cat. no. 153). Aretino who
was very pro-Turkish may possibly have procured a
drawing of Suleyman, which he gave to Federico
and from which Titian, in turn, could work.
Alternatively there may have been a coin or medal
which was a source of inspiration. Federico's
interest in having portraits of prominent figures
is not unusual, in the light of his series of
paintings of Roman Emperors.
Durer drew a striking portrait of the head of the
Sultan dated 1526 (Musee Bonnat, Bayonne;
E.Panofsky, Albrecht Durer, Princeton, 1943, no.
1039). It shows Suleyman as a young man turbaned,
clean-shaven but with a luxuriant moustache and
remarkably long neck (see Bragadin in 1526,
Marino Sanuto, Diarii, vol. XLI, 1894, p. 526).
Durer's source for this image can only be guessed
at and it may have been the painting formerly in
the Kress foundation. Alternatively, the extant
oil-paintings of Suleyman, such as that in
Budapest (Magyar Nemzeti Museum, Historische
Bildergalerie, no. 438), sometimes attributed to
the circle of Titian and part of the Renaissance
fashion for portraits of viri illustri, follow a
similar type. Clearly a source of inspiration was
also provided by earlier portraits of members of
the Ottoman court, such as Gentile Bellini's
Portrait of Mehmed II, 1480 (London National
Gallery).
Medals would have been very portable sources of
inspiration. One ascribed to the Ferrarese
sculptor and medallist Alfonso Cittadella
(Lombardi), shows the turbaned head of a young
man and the cast inscription SOLYMAN IMP TVR is
based on a similar prototype and is known in a
number of examples with different inscriptions
(L. Planiscig, Die Estensische Kunstsammlung. I.
Skulpturen und Plastiken des Mittelalters und der
Renaissance, Vienna, 1919, no. 385). More distant
is an anonymous Italian medal, with a cast
inscription showing a be-turbaned head in high
relief with a tall bonnet (British Museum, Coins
and Medals M. 2071). Although, clearly, Suleyman
had no prejudice against portraiture as such,
unlike Mehmed the Conqueror he never appears to
have commissioned portraits from European artists
and would have been far too grand to sit for the
attendants of the ambassadors and other
foreigners he received.
As noted in the catalogue for the exhibition,
Suleyman the Magnificent, (J.M. Rogers and R.M.
Ward, exhib. cat., British Museum, London, 1988,
p. 46), the only surviving portrait of Suleyman
done from life was by a talented sea captain
Haydar Reis (Nigari) who evidently in the late
1550's portrayed the Sultan as an elderly man.
However, at least one engraved portrait of him by
Melchior Lorchs survives: a standing figure with
the Suleymaniye mosque in the background
(probably therefore executed in 1557, the date of
its inauguration), executed either after Lorchs'
own sketches or after Ottoman portraits of a
similar type.
The present painting is believed to have come
from the collection of Paolo Giovio (1483-1552).
His museum of portraits of famous men, for which
he built a villa near Como (1537-40; destroyed)
included portraits of men of letters, dead and
living; artists and wits; popes, kings, and
generals; he composed written lives or eulogia to
accompany the portraits. Giovio's Museum was part
of the Renaissance cult of glory, and became the
prototype for many later portrait collections of
famous men.
