Two Portraits of Sultan Mehmed IV and his consort, possibly Valide Rabia Gulnush, Dutch School, second half 17th Century

Oil on panel, framed

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The two present portraits, depicting a young Sultan Mehmed IV and his consort, possibly Rabia Gulnush Valide, belong to a small group of paintings which can be dated between 1660-1683 since no beardless portrait of Sultan Mehmed IV is known before 1683 (see Portrait of the Sultan, exhib.cat., Turkiye Is Bankasi, Istanbul, 2000, p.339). The Sultan is depicted as a young man in a luxuriously decorated turban and a precious garment.

Following his enthronement in 1648, Mehmed IV was depicted as an infant or a young man both by Ottoman and European painters for almost a decade. Most of these portraits appear in albums prepared for the European upper classes. Besides the early works by Joannes Meyssens (1612-1670) and Fred Bauttats in Anvers which depict the Sultan realistically, contemporary German portraits seem to display a humiliating manner. These works can easily be linked to a propaganda related to the unfruitful campaigns in 1663-1664 and the siege of Vienna in 1683. In many instances, particularly in prints, the name of the Sultan has mistakenly been written 'Mahumet', 'Echmet' or 'Achmet'. On the other hand, inspired by Rycaut's prints, oil paintings were commissioned by ambassador Count Johann Josef von Herberstein, during his visit to Istanbul in 1665.

The present portraits bear stylistic similarities with paintings associated with Count Johann Josef von Herberstein (ibid, pp.362-3). The resemblance between these works may be related to a common source of inspiration such as Jacob Toorenvliet and Lang's prints, dated 1666. The anonymous oil portrait in the Pokrajinksi Museum, dated 1666, is the closest example. A second, full length portrait of Sultan Mehmed IV, in the same museum was been inspired by Toorenvlied and Lang's prints, dated 1666.

It is very likely that the portrait was made following the graphic paper that was inserted after page 388 in the first part of the book Historia di Leopoldo Cesare by Galeazzo Gualdo Priorato. The drawing for the portrait was prepared by the Dutch painter Toorenvliet.