Fatih and Renaissance
Ottoman architecture before the time of Fatih was described as provincial Timurid architecture. Early Ottoman literature was largely based on translations into Turkish.
The most important Ottoman sultan whom Atatürk also spoke of with admiration was Fatih Sultan Mehmet Khan. He was not only the sultan of the Ottoman Empire, one of the most prominent war machines of his time, but also one of the statesmen of his time who stood out with his intellectual knowledge. I believe that he has an important place in Turkish history only because of these characteristics.
Although Mehmet the Conqueror spent most of his life in struggles, he spent both time and money to create a unique imperial culture for the Ottoman Empire, which had international elements and Byzantine qualities as well as Turkish influences. Ottoman architecture before the time of the Conqueror was described as provincial Timurid architecture. Early Ottoman literature was largely based on translations into Turkish. It had religious compositions and examples drawn from the great achievements of the past. After Mehmet II conquered Constantinople, he built himself a Byzantine-style palace and a Timurid-style palace. He transformed these buildings into concrete and plaster, the layout of palace tents used for mobilisation purposes. In addition, Fatih used Byzantine and Anatolian writers and artists to lure important figures from the East and West to join his service. In Constantinople, he built a grand mosque to rival the Byzantine Hagia Sophia Cathedral and surrounded it with madrasas, highly paid institutions of learning that attracted well-qualified teachers from within and outside the country.
He made it a custom to gather learned men at his court to discuss important intellectual matters. On the other hand, he sent expensive gifts to Iranian poets living in the Timurid Empire and other eastern empires in order to attract them to his court, but he could not persuade them to come.
His invitation to the artists of the Italian Renaissance was more warmly received; Constanzo de Ferrara, Gentile Bellini and some other less renowned figures came under Ottoman influence. It is even rumoured that Leonardo da Vinci may have come to the court. The Italian painters who came to Istanbul at the invitation of the Conqueror bequeathed to the Ottomans during this period an interest in painting that was unique in the Islamic world. However, Bellini's erotic wall paintings in the palace were destroyed by Mehmet II's successors. It is to be regretted that Ottoman painting did not benefit from the achievements of the Italian Renaissance and merely copied the more magnificent Persian miniature style.
Meanwhile, current art historians recognise that Ottoman art combined Byzantine and Persian influences to produce a unique style, while avoiding the kind of vivid depictions that would have aroused religious opposition. This Ottoman art style emphasised reality and the problems of this world rather than the "otherworldly" elements seen in post-Timurid Iranian art. The arrival of Timur's poets and artists in Ottoman lands coincided with the Ottoman period of progress. Their talents were utilised to glorify the regime, to enrich both the quantity and quality of Ottoman artistic expression, and to contribute to the glory of the great Ottoman ruler Suleiman the Magnificent.
The import of porcelain and silk from China, glass and metalware from Europe, jewellery from India and sculpture from Hungary also contributed to the formation of a new artistic vision. The Kanuni period is the period of the formation of the classical style in Ottoman art. This style, assimilated by urban communities, has remained until today under the private name of its makers. In the 1550s, in architecture, ceramic art, miniature, textiles, poetry, historiography and many other fields, artists and court masters created a new aesthetic that was neither European nor Persian, but owed something to both.
We are not in a position to go into detail about this cultural explosion here, but we would like to mention one very important and prominent figure: Mimar Sinan. A peasant boy and military engineer, he became as famous as Shakespeare or Michaelangelo for the mosques he built for the sultans in the second half of his life. By combining Byzantine and Timurid examples in a powerful synthesis, Sinan created a new kind of religious architecture that, like the Gothic cathedral built for Christianity, reflected both the worldly life and the spiritual aspirations of Islam.
The pinnacle of Sinan's career was the Süleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul. This mosque reflects Suleiman's distinguished position as ruler in the Islamic world and his representation of Sunni Islam in response to the demands of both Shi'ite Iran and Christian Europe for Isawism. The dome of the mosque, its fountain, the lights of its windows and its columns made of precious stones symbolically portray the empire's connection with heaven and the divine sanction of Suleiman's reign. It is not correct to call the Ottoman cultural expansion a Renaissance in the Italian sense. But it was neither a rediscovery of the past nor a transformation of cultural events. Perhaps it would be more accurate to compare it with the Renaissance in England. A Renaissance which incorporated old and secondary elements, but which nevertheless had a profound cultural impact on the society from which it emerged.
The Timorese cultural expansion, on the other hand, has been partly compared more negatively to the Italian Renaissance. Nevertheless, even if this opening is not characterised as a rediscovery of the past, it can be linked to the Büveyhi period. The effects of these expansions in the Ottoman, Safavid and Mongol lands have not yet been fully explored. Ours is only a first step towards understanding this major trend in the Muslim world. The reality of these movements is often denied, even though they led to modernisation in the region.
Conclusion
The presentation of the European Renaissance as an instrument of modernisation is a consequence of the Enlightenment philosophy that sees scientific development as the engine of history. Although our ideas have changed in the context of historical transformations, the Renaissance has a carrier role in understanding and interacting with the world rather than its symbolic importance.
It is not a solution to ignore the Ottomans in Renaissance thought and not to see them as participants in this movement. An accurate assessment of the dynamics of change in Turkish history will be possible only by evaluating the unique Renaissance movement of this region and its cultural and intellectual ties over the centuries.
Reference
Prof. Dr. Linda T. DARLING, Turks, Vol. 11, pp.:840-847
