Siege of the Temeşvar (Timisoara) Fortress

These two paintings come from a small work in Persian which recounts the Hungarian campaign of 1551-1552. Copied in Istanbul by a calligrapher from Shiraz, the author is unknown; however, the similarity of certain passages to the Suleymanname written by the historiographer of the Palace, ’Arifi, may lead us to assume that he is also the author of this work.  This history of thirty pages, containing seven illustrations, retraces the role of Sokullu Mehmet Pacha, beylerbey[1] of Rumelia, who led the conquest of the Temeşvar region.

In 1551, the Ottoman Empire which had extended itself on several fronts was engaged in several campaigns in Iran and Hungary. An army led by Sokullu, having taken various fortresses[2], besieged Temeşvar, but when the winter arrived, the siege was abandoned. It was resumed in 1552 under the second vizier Kara Ahmed Pacha, who with Sokullu, conquered the whole region.

These two paintings which depict certain events of the siege contain cartouches which describe the scene: ‘A stone (canon ball) is released with a noise like thunder accompanied by lightening and inundated the ground with blood. It struck the head of the Vizier’s horse and shattered it’, ‘the horse collapsed beneath the vizier and its blood poured onto the ground’. Another Turkish source describing the battle casts further light on these verses; it describes how Sokullu, who occupied a castle, was one day targeted by Christian canons; miraculously, only his horse was hit.

Folio 19a is divided into three areas, the lower part depicts the battle scene, the centre includes a moat and the cartouches, and the upper part depicts the fortress. The battle scene takes place on two levels: in the foreground a Turkish rider transfixes with his spear a Hungarian soldier who has leapt off his horse and a decapitated Christian and an injured Muslim lie on the floor. In the middle ground lies the decapitated horse of the second vizier, who with his bow makes off towards a new mount with a golden harness, brought to him by his soldiers. The upper part of the painting reflects traditional Ottoman representations of towns with its strange perspective and disproportions, but equally the importance and precision given to details; for example, the canon which shot the horse is still emitting smoke, and the soldiers, whose heads alone are visible, are on the look out on the parapets above the moat where boats are sailing[3].

Folio 18b, compositionally structured around the representation of a tree, depicts the Ottoman encampment. In the centre, in the open tent of Ahmed Pacha stands a throne decorated with three swans. Surrounding it stand smaller tents together with groups of figures in conversation, whose headgear denotes their rank. Behind the hill, separated by the tree and on a sky blue ground which echoes the colour of the main tent, two groups of warriors await their departure for battle.

The detail of the costumes, the weapons and harnesses and of the fortress (including, its tiled roofs, doors, openings, walls and so on) reveal the documentary and topographical aspect of these paintings. The accuracy of these details required a broad knowledge of Western and Christian civilisation. We know that Hungarian artists worked in the Topkapi Palace workshops, collaborating, in particular, on illustrations of the histories of this conquest; some works demonstrate an excellent knowledge of Western painting. The workshops and the abundant resources of the library which supplied the artists with sketches and models as well as a wealth of documentation enabled them to develop these historical paintings which even today provide a wealth of information on Western civilisation.

[2] The fortresses of Beese, Beeskerek, Csanad and  Lipp.

[3] The Süleymanname by ’Arifi (1558) contains an illustration of the same scene (f. 533a) which is arranged on two levels only, with an emphasis on the scene of the horse’s decapitation; the same minute details are apparent in both.