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Seyh-ül-Islâm, or Grand Mufti

Anonymous Greek artist

1809

watercolor

From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum

Romanticism Early 19th Century

Dominant colour

Seyh-ül-Islâm, or Grand Mufti is a 1809 watercolor by Anonymous Greek artist, a Romanticism work, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.

Who painted this?: Anonymous Greek artist
When & what style?: 1809 · Romanticism
Where can I see it?: Victoria and Albert Museum

About this work

This watercolor shows a high-ranking religious official from the Ottoman Empire. The title points to the Grand Mufti, who handled religious law in Sunni countries. An anonymous Greek artist made it around 1809 as part of a series. A British diplomat named Stratford Canning ordered the whole set. He arrived in Istanbul in 1808 and quickly asked a local painter to record what he saw. Only the artist stayed unknown. Look up the Victoria and Albert Museum next.

The story of this work

Overview

The work depicts a Turkish cleric, identified as the Grand Mufti, wearing a large turban and fur-trimmed robes, gazing upward to the right. Executed in dense water and bodycolour, the painting blends Ottoman artistic techniques with European conventions of perspective and representation. It was part of a larger series of views and studies commissioned by Stratford Canning during his diplomatic mission in Istanbul, with the artist likely associated with the circle of Konstantin Kapidagli. The Victoria and Albert Museum acquired the original set of drawings from Canning’s daughter in 1895.

Read the full account in the museum source.