Portraying Ottoman Society

European artists who came to Istanbul as members of diplomatic entourages depicted scenes from different parts of the Ottoman capital, distinctive costumes worn by the different classes of people in the empire, and portraits of foreign ambassadors, interpreters, and increasingly of Ottoman dignitaries. Vanmour, for example, in addition to several audience scenes and pictures of Istanbul, painted various state officials in their typical costume, and these were published in Marquis de Ferriol's Recueil de cent estampes représentant différentes nations du Levant in 1714. A number of paintings of similar size in various collections and museums are thought to belong to this series of oil paintings by Vanmour.

One of the most notable of the European artists who worked in Istanbul in the 18th century was a knight of Malta Antoine de Favray, who arrived in Istanbul in 1762 and was employed by the French ambassadors Comte de Vergennes and Comte de St. Priest until 1771. His portraits of Vergennes and his wife show the couple not only dressed in Turkish costume but even seated in oriental style.

This tradition of painting, particularly portraiture, introduced by western artists, gradually spread from court and diplomatic circles to broader sectors of society; first to high-ranking state officials and then to leading Ottoman families, whose members increasingly commissioned portraits of themselves. Even more importantly, this tradition of oil painting influence local artists, one of the most renowned being Osman Hamdi Bey, who despite his oriental birth, did many works that place him among the artists of the orientalist movement.