Gentile Bellini's Portrait of Sultan Mehmed II

In 1479, the Venetian painter Gentile Bellini arrived at the Ottoman court in Istanbul, where he produced his celebrated portrait of Sultan Mehmed II. An important moment of cultural diplomacy, this was the first of many intriguing episodes in the picture’s history.Elizabeth Rodini traces Gentile’s portrait from Mehmed’s court to the Venetian lagoon, from the railway stations of war-torn Europe to the walls of London’s National Gallery, exploring its life as a painting and its afterlife as a famous, often puzzling image.Rediscovered by the archaeologist Austen Henry Layard at the height of Orientalist outlooks in Britain, the picture was also the subject of a lawsuit over what defines a “portrait”; it was claimed by Italians seeking to hold onto national patrimony around 1900; and it starred in a solo exhibition in Istanbul in 1999. Rodini’s focused inquiry also ranges broadly, considering the nature of historical evidence, the shifting status of authenticity and verisimilitude, and the contemporary political resonance of Old Master paintings.Told as an object biography and imagined as an exploration of art historical methodologies, this book situates Gentile’s portrait in evolving dialogues between East and West, uncovering the many and varied ways that objects construct meaning.

From time to time a book will inspire us more than most, or convince us that the direction our own thinking has recently taken is worthwhile, or simply engage us in a thought-provoking historical story that is very well-told. Elizabeth Rodini, a distinguished art historian based in Rome, has achieved all this and more with her latest book., Elizabeth Rodini’s thoughtful account traces the circuitous journey made by the portrait of Mehmet the Conqueror by Gentile Bellini that now belongs to the National Gallery in London … The book fortuitously coincides with the Istanbul Municipality’s purchase of a related picture … It is unlikely, however, that its story will be as rich or colourful as the one she tells about the London portrait., Rodini manages to be both erudite and personable. She has an eye for the compelling anecdote. The book is never dull or overly detailed., Rodini’s study covers the journey of this painting through time and geographies, revealing interactions and encounters between different cultures and politics, and throwing light upon concepts of likeness, symbolism and patrimony ... resulting in a new inspiring reading., Rodini’s essential “social life” of the Mehmed II portrait evokes both a memoir and a mystery novel. Her cross-cultural study blends meticulous archival research and rich critical analysis to examine every aspect of this complex painting – from its physicality to its reception spanning its inception in fifteenth-century Constantinople to contemporary London.

Elizabeth Rodini is the Andrew Heiskell Arts Director at the American Academy in Rome, Italy. Previously she founded the Program in Museums and Society at Johns Hopkins University, USA, where she was Teaching Professor in the History of Art.