A Survey at History with 19th Century Mural Paintings

Abstract

Mural paintings are one of the innovations brought by the Ottoman modernization period. In addition to the proliferation in the world of images, it is obvious that a lot of newsworthy information given in the archive records, poems, and print media of the period is included in paintings, but mostly in murals. In this study, the pictorial equivalent of this information will be sought. Taking into account the history of the Ottoman Empire or Europe, especially the 19th century, it will be tried to reveal how the current situation is seen visually from the mural paintings, as well as from archive documents or newspapers. The history read from the pictures appears before us in every period from the past. Sometimes in Çatalhöyük, a Neolithic settlement, the volcanic eruption on Hasan Mountain, the picture of the battle that took place in the amphitheater from a place in Pompeii, one of the important settlements of the ancient period, sometimes the Bayeux tapestry or the Ottoman painting, which depicts the Battle of Hastings, one of the important events of the Romanesque period in the 11th century. In accordance with the understanding of documentation, it is understood that the event they have witnessed for tens of thousands of years was visualized at a moment following the date it took place, such as Matrakçı Nasuh participating in the expeditions and painting the entire route. Peter Burke (2009,177) under the title "Painter as Historian" mentions that immortalizing historical events with images is a tradition that has continued unchanged since ancient times. In our study, we will try to understand and convey the continuation of this tradition in the 19th century, based on some images found in palaces or houses in different geographies of the empire. Since Ottoman murals are seen in a very wide area, a selection was made from different regions such as Istanbul, Edirne, Antep and Safranbolu. This situation will sometimes be demonstrated through an event that concerns the whole world, and sometimes through a building that is the home of the sultanate. Apart from the examples above, which are well known throughout history, it will be revealed how history is visualized in wall paintings, which were seen as a new genre during the modernization period of the Ottoman Empire. It will be shown how the understanding of documentation, which has been going on since the past, found a place in the mural program simultaneously with the historiography and poems of important events, cities or sometimes buildings in terms of both world and Ottoman history.