Equestrian portrait of Süleyman

Süleyman is represented on horseback, dressed in a green robe worn over a red tunic with an anthracite grey, sleeveless kaftan lined in fur. He wears a large turban with feathers and fringes. The details of his ageing and stooped, bending body, his lined face and drawn features are meticulously rendered; so too is the representation of the richly decorated horse with its upright bearing and deliberate step. It is the portrait of an old man: Süleyman led his troops on horseback to Hungary where he died at Szigetvar on seventh September, 1566, on the eve of the battle which gave the Ottomans victory over the Holy Roman Emperor, Maximilian II.

The development of portraiture in Ottoman art began at the end of the fifteenth century under the reign of Mehmet II (r. 1451-1481)[1]. There are several extant portraits of Süleyman by Turkish[2] and Western[3] painters. The genre also developed in Iran and India, and became universal in the seventeenth century[4].

In Western art of the Renaissance, the equestrian portrait, inspired by classical statuary (of which the statue of Marcus Aurelius[5] is probably the principal model) was reworked with a political agenda. The condottiere Bartolomeo Colleoni had his portrait executed by the sculptor Andrea del Verrochio (1479-1483)[6], and Charles V[7] and François I[8], the eminent political interlocutors of Süleyman, commissioned portraits of themselves by the greatest painters of the period.

The equestrian figure was extremely popular in Islamic arts. The Sasanian civilisation, whose legacy was widely disseminated in Islamic countries, gave a significant place to this theme which is closely connected to the iconography of power. The Iranian ruler, Khosrow II (r. 590-628), had made a full-scale portrait of himself on horseback in the round[9]. The equestrian subject is connected to the themes of hunting and war, the archetypal princely activities, practised by Muslim rulers in all cultural and geographic areas covered by the new civilisation. It appears widely in various genres of the decorative arts: ceramics[10], wood, ivory, miniatures[11]. Horses occupy a special place in Islamic tradition. There are numerous treatises on the equestrian arts[12] and they are the subject of a variety of artistic works.

The naturalism of representations and the pursuit of veracity characterise Ottoman painting from the middle of the sixteenth century. The Pir i-Re’is atlas, the views of besieged towns, the albums chronicling great courtly festivities, all demonstrate the conception of painting being in the service of historical narrative.

This portrait gives us a precise and detailed account of the dress of the Sultan, with a sobriety which characterised the period following the death of his favourite spouse, Roxelana, in 1558. Previously, Süleyman the Magnificent was renowned in the West for the splendour of his dress. The opulent ornaments of his horse, painstakingly executed, are faithful representations of extant pieces[13]. The precision is such that one can recognise in the central medallion composition and cornerpieces of the saddle rug, imagery employed in bookbinding of the period[14].

Süleyman’s successors, including his son Selim II[15] also commissioned equestrian portraits of themselves.

[2] Portrait of Süleyman I, Nigari, Turkey, c. 1560-1565, Istanbul, Library of Topkapi Sarayi, inv. H. 2134/8.

[3] Albrecht Dürer, Portrait of Süleyman, 1526, Bayonne, Bonnat Museum; anonymous, Venetian, Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent wearing a Helmet inlaid with Precious Stones, Venice, Italy, c. 1532, wood cut, New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, inv. 42.41.1.

[4] Equestrian portrait of the emperor Awrangzeb, India, c. 1670-1680, Paris, musée de l’Institut du monde arabe, inv. AI 87-17.

[5] Second half of C2nd A.D., a copy of the statue kept at the Capitoline Museum in Rome is situated on the Capitoline square.

[6] It is erected in Venice on the Campo dei Santi Giovanni e Paolo. 

[7] Portrait of Charles V, Titian, 1548, Spain, Madrid, PradoMuseum.

[8] Portrait of François 1, Jean Clouet, tempera on wood, 1540, Florence, Italy,  Uffizi Gallery.

[9] Caves of Taq-i Bustan, Kermanshah, Iran, C7th.

[10] Cup with rider, Iran, end C12th - beginning C13th, ceramic with haftrang decoration and lustre painted, Lyon, musée des Beaux-Arts, inv. E 698.

[11] Hunter on horseback with falcon, extract from Book of Songs, (Kitab al-aghani), by Abu’l-Faraj al-Isfahani, Iraq, Mossul, 1219, Copenhagen, Det Kongelige Bibliothek, Cod. Arab. 168.

[12] Kitab al-baytara (Treatise of equestrianism), Egypt, 1766, Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Oriental manuscripts, inv. Arabe 2817.

[13] Pair of stirrups, Turkey, first half of C17th, iron, engraved silver gilt, ruby, turquoise, silk and leather, Moscow, Kremlin Museum, inv. K-541/1-2.

[14] Binding of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Venice, Italy, 1553, embossed leather, painted and varnished, Venice, Fondazione Giorgio Cini, inv. MS 216A/D47.

[15] Portrait of Selim II on horseback, 1566-1574, Paris, private collection. The tradition survived into the C17th: Portrait of the Sultan Osman II by Ahmed Naksi, Turkey, c. 1620, Istanbul, Topkapi Sarayi Müzesi, inv. 2169, f° 13a.