The Topkapi Palace viewed from Pera, Dutch school, 17th century

oil on canvas, framed

Ex-private collection, Austria

Condition overall good, horizontal crease, line with overpainting as restoration in areas, relined/restretched, revarnished, craquelure of paint throughout, some vertical creases from top with retouching, as viewed.
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The present painting is one of the earliest European depictions of the Topkapi Palace, the primary residence of the Ottoman sultans for almost four hundred years (1465-1856). It reflects the ongoing interest of the seventeenth-century European elite in the Ottoman world, and its ruling dynasty.

At the left of the present painting can be seen the tip of Kadikoy district, with the sea of Marmara and the Uludag mountains in the background, but it is clear that the artist's centre of attention is the Topkapi Palace. The headland on which the Topkapi Palace sits is the main feature of the landscape depicted, and even an inscription on a rock in the lower right-hand corner of the painting bears the inscription Il Seraglio de Grand Segnior ('The Palace of the Great Sultan'). An imperial architectural complex comprising various secular and religious buildings, the Topkapi palace has been depicted here with extreme attention to detail. The Baghdad Pavilion, Sultan Ibrahim's Gazebo and the circumcision chamber are clearly visible among the main buildings of the palace, which are surrounded by trees. The painting also shows the entire Saraburnu region with its many important imperial structures: the Byzantine walls surrounding the palace gardens; the sixteenth century Basket-makers' Kiosk (Sepetçiler Kasri) attached to the walls, and the Waterside Mansion Kiosk (Yali Köskü).

On the waters of the Golden Horn and the Bosphorus can be seen various ships, fishermen, and caiques carrying passengers. Foreign and local merchants alike are depicted on the Pera shore, symbolising Pera's importance as one of the foremost commerical centres of the city. The palace and surrounding buildings confirm that the painting is an early representation of the Topkapi as it was in the seventeenth century. 

A comparable painting to the present example is in the Erdoğan Demirören Collection, Istanbul. Dating to the late-seventeenth century, this painting is published with the title 'View of the Imperial Palace from Pera', (see exhibition catalogue Image of the Turks in 17th century Europe, Sakip Sabanci Museum, 2005, p.118).