75 82. The trace and the differences between Hoja and his slave are not clear now
for “I had seen someone I must be; and now I thought he too must be someone like me. The two of us were one person” TWC, 82
2.2. The Enchantment and Appropriation of the Italian Renaissance Painting
For Turkey, Western enchantment is not only on its modern and sophisticated science and technology but also on its painting, which shows the
individuality of its object. In the previous sub-chapter, I presented how Hoja is enchanted by Western science and technology, which is more logical and do not
depend on the prediction and interpretation of dreams and stars and how he adores the identity of his Venetian slave. In this section, I will show how Turkish
miniature painting and its miniaturists are contested by the Italian Renaissance painting. The image of Frankish painting, which is depicted realistically, is in
contrast to the Turkish miniature painting. Perspective is very important in this painting and the object is created based on the view of the painters. On the
contrary, in Islamic miniature, the object is painted based on Allah’s view and its importance before God.
Pamuk’s My Name is Red can be read as the negotiation of the East and the West that is presented in the two traditions of painting, Italian Renaissance
painting and Turkish Miniature painting.
210
The different concept and the different way in seeing the object in the two traditions are things that make the problem
210
Orhan Pamuk, “Turkey’s Divided Character”, New Perspectives Quarterly 17, 2 2000: 20.
76 occur. The world-view underlying European Renaissance Painting is also different
from that of tradition Ottoman miniature painting. The Ottoman painting objects is depicted not realistically and the miniaturists are not allowed to leave their
signatures in the painting. By contrast, Italian Renaissance painting emphasizes individual perspective and people depicted in this manner are treated as unique
and individual. Moreover, the painters in this manner can leave their signature in their works as a sign of their authenticity. However, those differences in seeing
the world by the Frankish masters are things that tempted the miniature painters to adopt this painting style.
2.2.1. The Enchantment of the Italian Renaissance Painting
The most striking difference between Turkish miniature painting and Renaissance painting is in the depiction of faces. In Ottoman art, inherited from
the Persian tradition under Mongolian-Chinese influence, all faces appear to be the same
211
because the image in this painting tradition is not depicted realistically. MNR, 67 In this model, a person is not treated as an individual but
seen according to the way God see him, “Allah’s vision of the earthly realm” MNR, 88. In line with this argument, Laksana emphasizes that in miniature
painting, the miniaturists do not depict human being as an individual but they paint him according to God’s vision. So, the image of this painting is not realist
but otherworldly, for it is portrayed to make human being remember the transcendence.
212
Moreover, Butterfly also has the same idea that miniature
211
Çiçekoglu, “Difference, Visual Narration”, 127.
212
Laksana, “İstanbul: Melankoli”.
77 painting is a depiction of what God sees and the miniaturists are depicting the
world through God’s eye. Butterfly said, “The illuminator draws not what he sees, but what Allah
sees.” “Yes,” I said, “however, exalted Allah certainly sees everything we see.”
“Of course, Allah sees what we see, but He doesn’t perceive it the way we do,” said Butterfly as if chastising me.
I wanted to say, “It falls to us to believe in Allah and to depict only what He reveals to us, not what He conceals,” but I held my peace. MNR, 400
For the reason that the image is not realist, each individual in this painting manner has the same body size and face, as if each is an imitation of one another MNR,
80, which shows that human have the same position before God. Additionally, the miniaturists never sign their works as the Frankish
masters do MNR, 67. This is along with what Butterfly says in his conclusion of the three stories he tells to Black.
Painting in the manner of the old masters is depicted without any signature or variation. MNR, 72
“Style’ is imperfection,” I said, a perfect picture needs no signature, and thus “signature” and “style” are but means of being brazenly and stupidly
self-congratulatory about flawed work. MNR, 73 From the quotation above, it can be concluded that miniature painters are not
allowed to leave their signatures in their works because this painting style is the technique and style of the old masters, which they have imitated and if any trait
found that distinguishes one artist’s work from that of another is seen as flaw.
213
On the other hand, the aim of the Italian Renaissance painting is to depict human being realistically. The painting is something in its own right and the
image is of an individual. The Venetian masters had discovered painting
213
Martyn, “Turkish-German Literature”, 235.
78 techniques with which they could distinguish any one man from another...just by
the distinctive shape of his face. This was the essence of “portraiture”. MNR, 28- 29 The concept of “portraiture” is explained more by a narration from a tree that
is depicted in the manner of Frankish style. This new kind of painting style has made “these Frank painters depict the
faces of kings, priests, noblemen, and even women in such manner that after gazing upon the portrait, we will be able to identify that person on the
street. …This new style demands such talent that if we depicted one of the trees in the forest, a man who looked upon that painting could come here
and...correctly select that tree from among the others”. MNR, 56-57 However, this painting manner is not only depicting human being realistically but
also other living or non-living being realistically
214
such as animals and trees in the forest that is explained by the non-human narrators above.
The art of portraiture, which is the critical theme in Pamuk’s My Name is Red, is introduced as a result of the visit of an Ottoman ambassador to Venice,
Enishte Effendi, who is seduced by the Frankish style. On the day, Enishte once again travel to Venice as the Sultan’s ambassador, a painting hanging on a palazzo
wall amazes him. MNR, 28 “I never forgot the painting that bewildered me so. I left the palazzo,
returned to the house where I was staying as a guest and pondered the picture the entire night. I, too, wanted to be portrayed in this manner. But,
no, that wasn’t appropriate, it was Our Sultan who ought to be thus portrayed Our Sultan ought to be rendered along with everything He
owed, with the things that represented and constituted His realm. I settled on the notion that a manuscript could be illustrated according to this idea.”
MNR, 28 Black’s uncle is intoxicated by the “Italian painting’s variety, colours, the
pleasantness—even severity—of the soft light that seems to fall on it and the
214
Eder, “My Name is Red”.
79 meaning emanating from the object’s eyes” MNR, 118. The picture, which
depicts the characteristics of its object, also seduces him to be portrayed in that manner.
Moreover, figures and portraits of the Venetian painting, which are individual and of specific people, are in line with Enishte’s explanation that “on
the thousands of framed faces that are depicted, each one is different from the next. They are distinctive and have unique human faces” MNR, 118. He adds
that in Venetian painting, eyes can no longer simply be holes in a face…but must be like our own
eyes, which reflect light like a mirror and absorb it like a well. Lips can no longer be a crack in the middle of faces flat as paper, but must be nodes an
expression, fully expressing our joys, sorrows, and spirits with their slightest contradiction or relaxation. Our noses can no longer be a kind of
wall that divides our faces, but rather, living and curious instruments with a form unique to each of us. MNR, 151
The depiction of an individual in the Italian Renaissance painting, who has unique traits and distinctive faces, shows that God created every people as “unique,
special, and particular human being” MNR, 187. Therefore, the individuality that is captured in the Venetian painting has enchanted Enishte and led him to create
his hybrid book made in half-Venetian, half-Persian. The Ottoman Sultans, Sultan Mehmet II and Sultan Murat III, are also
enchanted by the Italian Renaissance style, which can help them to show their dynasty’s strength, power, and riches. In Venice, this painting manner, for rich
and influential men, is a memento of their lives and a sign of their riches, power and influence—so they might always be there, standing before us, announcing
their existence, individuality, and distinction. MNR, 118 For both Sultans, this
80 painting style is used as a way to proclaim their existence as the centre of the
world. However, it was an irony that even though Mehmet had conquered Constantinople, he still had the desire to imitate the West by having his own
portrait in the Italian Renaissance style,
215
by inviting Gentile Bellini. This irony is similar to Sultan Murad III who imitates Western style of painting in the secret
book to impress the West. Mehmed II, to show his dynasty’s strength and power, also invited Western artists, Costanzo da Ferrara, to make him a portrait medal,
which shows that the Sultan is riding a horse. The image of this medal later became a standard, immediately recognizable representation of Eastern power.
216
It is the horse that symbolises power
217
because the more realistic the horse is depicted, the more convincingly captured in the moment of surging strength,
mastered by the horseman, the more certain we are that our response is natural and inevitable.
218
Zeytin or Velijan, or who is known as Olive, is the only miniaturist who is based on a real historical figure. He was an important Persian-Ottoman painter,
trained by the Persian artist Siyavush,
219
“the famous illustrator specializing in faces in the Persian Shah’s Tabriz workshop” MNR, 279. Black states that he is
the other character who is enchanted by the Frankish style and who “has the most enthusiasm for and the most ease with the style of the Frankish masters admired
by Enishte Effendi”. MNR, 279 In fact, it is not only Olive who is dazzled by the Frankish painting but many miniaturists are also enchanted by this painting style.
215
Jardine and Brotton, Global Interests, 8.
216
Jardine and Brotton, Global Interests, 42.
217
Jardine and Brotton, Global Interests, 172.
218
Jardine and Brotton, Global Interests, 175.
219
Pamuk, Other Colours, 267.
81 The charm of the Italian Renaissance painting, which offers individuality, fame,
and style cannot be denied by the Ottoman Sultans as well as the palace miniaturists that it later leads to imitation of the imitation of the painting style.
2.2.2. The Appropriation of the Italian Renaissance Painting
Until the present, Turkey is still negotiating its membership in the European Union and the development of its art can be one of the considerations of
the EU’s acceptance of Turkey’s candidacy. Picasso’s exhibition in Sakip Sabanci Museum, which is the first major exhibition devoted to a Western artist, shows
how Turkey has taken a big step to embrace Western Europe. Picasso’s grandson, Bernard Ruiz-Picasso even said that “the people here in Turkey really want and
need to see modern art”.
220
Introducing Turks to Modern Western art, for Picasso is the symbol of the contemporary modernism project. I argue that Bernard Ruiz-
Picasso’s statement above shows how the West sees that the East needs to be civilized trough this first time ever exhibition. Additionally, the painting
exhibition proved that Turkey is part of the West and a part of that modernism.
221
The enchantment of the Italian painting style and the desire to be accepted by the West has encouraged Sultan Murad to “order the artists to surreptitiously
learn Western artistic techniques and rather than to continue the miniature painting.”
222
Through the appropriation of the Venetian painting in the secret book, Pamuk tries to demonstrate the binary opposition between the Islamic
miniature and the Italian Renaissance painting. In line with Said’s Orientalism,
220
Bozdoğan, The Cambridge History of Turkey, 467.
221
Sarah Rainsford, “Turks Relish First Picasso Show”, BBC News 24 November 2005, 14 February 2015 news.bbc.co.UK2hientertainment4466024.stm
222
Summarized from a conversation between Orhan Pamuk and Elizabeth Farnsworth in PBS NewsHour titled “Orhan Pamuk: Bridging Two Worlds” on November 20, 2002.
82 this appropriation reflects that the Italian painting is superior to the Ottoman
miniature painting for this new painting method is believed to show the Ottoman Empire strength as well as to impress the West. Furthermore, I argue that the
radical modernization conducted by the founder of Turkish Republic, Kemal Ataturk, that wanted desperately to make Turkey more modern and Western is
similar to the “Westernization” led by Sultan Murad that wanted his artists to learn to paint portrait, which is prohibited under Islam. Sultan Murad III, who is
both directly brought from history by Orhan Pamuk and the reign Sultan in My Name is Red, commissions a secret book for the celebration of Hegira, which uses
the Italian Renaissance style in depicting Islam’s military strength and the power of his reign. The Sultan, who is persuaded by Enishte Effendi, also invites a
young Venetian painter, Sebastiano, to make his self-portrait. “Years ago, your Enishte duped Our Sultan into having a Venetian
painter—his name was Sebastiano—make a portrait of His Excellency in the Frankish style as if He were an infidel king”. MNR, 361
As a result of Enishte’s influence on Sultan Murad’s growing interest in Frankish style of painting, Master Osman is forced by His Excellency to copy His
portrait, which had been commissioned from a Venetian. MNR, 102 Not satisfied with that, in a disgraceful afford to my dignity, he had this
shameful work given to me as a model to be copied; and out of dire fear of Our Sultan, I dishonourably copied that picture, which was made using
infidel methods. MNR, 362 The copy of Sultan Murad’s portrait by Master Osman is the example of the
appropriation of Frankish painting. After forcing Master Osman to copy His portrait, Murad III also makes the other adoption and imitation of the Italian
Renaissance painting by asking Uncle Effendi to make the secret book.
83 Additionally, the best Ottoman miniaturists are also forced to change their
painting tradition into the modern one that is using the Frankish style. This forced appropriation is a self-colonialism conducted by the Sultan towards the Master
miniaturist as well as the palace miniaturists. His Excellency Our Sultan orders Enishte Effendi to start working on the
secret book that is prepared as a present for the Venetian Doge. Besides, this book will also be a symbol of the vanquishing power of the Islamic
Caliph Our Exalted Sultan, in the thousand years of Hegira. MNR, 121 The secret book, which “the Sultan wanted to have it completed in time” MNR,
35, is an irony of the Sultan’s modernism project. The painting style, that is believed as the symbol of infidelity, is not only prepared as a present for the
Venetian Doge but also as the thousandth-year anniversary of the Hegira. Moreover, the Sultan also uses the West’s painting tradition to emulate their
“power and superiority”. In this commissioned book, Enishte wants the things he depicted to
represent Our Sultan’s entire world, just as the paintings of the Venetian masters. However, this secret book will be a little bit different from “the painting of the
Venetian master, which is only accompanied by things that is significant in his life” MNR, 28. Enishte Effendi insists that the book he is working on will not
only shows Our Sultan’s wealth alone, but His spiritual and moral strength along with His hidden sorrows MNR, 248:
But unlike the Venetians, my work would not merely depict material objects, but naturally the inner riches, the joys, and fears of the realm over
which Our Sultan rules. If I ended up including the picture of a gold coin, it was to belittle money; I included Death and Satan because we fear them.
…I wanted the immortality of a tree, the weariness of a horse, and the vulgarity of a dog to represent His Excellency Our Sultan and His worldly
realm. MNR, 27
84 In the last painting, it should be Sultan Murad’s painting and the depiction
of His realm along with everything He has; His wealth, His power, as well as the strength of His dynasty. To the same degree, it is as what Enishte explains that:
“…it was our Sultan who ought to be thus portrayed Our Sultan ought to be rendered along with everything He owned, with the things that
represented and constituted His realm.” MNR, 28 Conversely, after Olive kills Enishte and steals the last painting, he covers up the
portrait of the Sultan with his self-portrait. In the Coffee house, he struggles to draw his portrait with the help of a mirror. In fact, “the face on the page did not
resemble his face in the mirror.” MNR, 307 This primitive picture I’ve made, without even achieving a fair
resemblance of myself, revealed to me what we’ve known all along without admitting it: The proficiency of the Franks will take centuries to
attain. MNR, 431 Master Osman, the other character brought from history, is a master
miniaturist who preserves the old painting style. He, once again, stresses that Enishte Effendi is the one who is responsible for the imitation of Frankish
painting by many miniaturists in the workshop. Moreover, he’s to blame for their enthusiastic imitation of European masters with the justification that “it is the will
of our Sultan” MNR, 362. However, Black tells that, nowadays, many miniaturists, that is not only in Tabriz but also in Mashhad and Aleppo, have
abandoned working images, which are part of a book and begin making odd single-leaf pictures—curiosities that will please European travellers—even
obscene drawings. MNR, 25 One of those miniaturists is Stork. He mentions that, now, he is preparing obscene paintings for his Frankish patron as well as
pasha.
85 Black was examining my paints…and the collage album that I’d made for
a Frankish traveller, scenes of fucking and other indecent pages I’d secretly dashed off for a pasha. MNR, 82
Obscene drawing here is related to the drawing that is depicted realistically and using the miniaturist’s perfection. The miniaturist who paints using his individual
perspective has shown how the “God’s perspective” painting is replaced by the obscene drawing as well as single-leaf pictures.
In a parable on “style and signature”, Butterfly tells Black about a miniaturist who depicts a young Khan’s wife, a Tatar woman, with his individual
touches. His ambition to style and perfection as well as the Khan’s adulation causes a terrible accident. The young Khan is very jealous to the Tatar woman
because in the painting she is depicted with the miniaturist’s “obscenity gaze”. …this adulation caused the miniaturist to stray from good sense; incited by
the Devil, he dismissed the fact that he was beholden to the old masters for the perfection of his pictures, and haughtily assumed that a touch of his
own genius would make his work even more appealing. …In the paintings, the Khan…felt that his former bliss had been disrupted in numerous ways,
and he grew increasingly jealous of his Tatar beauty who was depicted with the individual touch of the painter. MNR, 70
Lekesizalin, in “Art, Desire, and Death in Orhan Pamuk’s My Name is Red”, also mentions that the miniaturist’s ambition to the perfect painting and gaze
“comprise obscenity and transgression, which leads to the tragic consequences of his ambition with style and subjectivity”
223
. The jealous Khan takes another woman from the harem, which causes the death of the Tatar woman who hangs
herself silently. Realizing that the miniaturist’s ambition with style and perfection
223
Ferma Lekesizalin, “Art, Desire, and Death in Orhan Pamuk’s My Name is Red”, English Studies in Africa 52, 9 2009: 98.
86 that is behind this incident not with his Tatar woman, he immediately blinded the
master artist. MNR, 70 Enishte Effendi and Sultan Murad III see the Italian Renaissance painting
as a painting technique, which is greater, modern, and interesting than the Islamic Ottoman painting tradition. Sultan Murad, himself, even asks his miniaturists to
study this painting technique as well as commissions a secret book, which adopts the Italian painting style. This commissioned book shows that the East imitates
and adopts Western painting style in order to modernize itself and also to show its power and superiority to the West. Along with Said’s discourse on Orientalism,
this constructed opposition demonstrates the difference between the Islamic Ottoman painting that is characterized as the old painting tradition and the
Frankish painting that is signified as the new and modern painting tradition. At last, through the imitation of this painting style, the East has indicated Europe’s
identity as superior.
3. Maintenance and Preservation of Eastern Aspects