Galleon in the Mist

The reign of Sultan Abdülaziz (r. 1861-1876), Abdülmecid Efendi’s father, was an exceptional period for Ottoman painting. This was when the first exhibitions of fine arts were organised, works were commissioned from foreign painters, and the first steps towards establishing a structured royal collection were taken. Overall, interest in and support for the arts increased exponentially.

Abdülmecid Efendi did not receive an academic education in art, however he grew up within this flourishing artistic atmosphere at court. Among the people who taught him were the court painters Stanisław Chlebowski and Fausto Zonaro, as well as instructors from the Academy of Fine Arts such as Osman Hamdi Bey and Salvatore Valeri.

Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky (1817-1900) was among the painters who were invited to Istanbul by Sultan Abdülaziz and who made artworks for the palace. He painted ships and galleons on the Bosphorus at sunset, sunrise, and on moonlit nights, many of which are now in the National Palaces Collection in Istanbul. Abdülmecid Efendi was undoubtedly familiar with these works in the palace collection; he at times used them as source material for his copies, and at other times merely took inspiration from them, as in the case of Galleon in the Mist, which he painted when he was twenty-seven years old.

The dominant element in the misty seascape is the silhouette of a galleon. The galleon, with its flag waving in the wind, looms over a pinnace with clearly visible oars. In addition to rowers, there are also several passengers and various stacked goods in the smaller vessel. The artist depicts the sun shining through the fog, with rays of white light reflected on the bright blue waters of the sea. The background of the seascape, painted in pale pinks and lilacs, gives the painting a bleak, tenebrous air. The lower right-hand corner of the canvas bears the artist’s signature and the date AH 1313.