A RETURN TO MORE GLORIOUS DAYS
Sultan Mustafa II’s reign was short-lived. But Ahmed III’s accession to the throne in 1703 ushered in a new era. An innovative sultan, Ahmed III sent ambassadors to Europe to follow scientific and technological developments there as well as patronising artistic endeavours in his own country. Istanbul was finally restored to its former glory following the Peace of Passarowitz in 1718. Palpable progress was made in science and technology with the introduction of the printing press, and a taste for entertainment and luxury was born in tandem with a passion for flowers, particularly tulips. The palace became a meeting place for painters, poets and artists. Known as ‘the Tulip Era’, this period ended with the Patrona Halil revolt in 1730.
THE OTTOMANS SEEN THROUGH VANMOUR’S EYES
Jean Baptiste Vanmour’s sojourn in Istanbul coincided with this period. Although the artist is associated with a group known as ‘the Bosphorus Painters’, the strait was not the only landscape he conveyed on his canvasses, which also depicted entertainments, passions, intellectual movements and rebellions.