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Zusatztext Rodini masterfully demonstrates the use of an intertextual methodology for making sense of rumors and traces throughout the book … [and] does not shy away from deep theoretical engagement, revisiting time and again the deceptively simple question of "what is a painting?" Informationen zum Autor Elizabeth Rodini is the Andrew Heiskell Arts Director at the American Academy in Rome. Previously she founded the Program in Museums and Society at Johns Hopkins University, where she was Teaching Professor in the History of Art. Klappentext In 1479, the Venetian painter Gentile Bellini arrived at the Ottoman court in Istanbul, where he produced his celebrated portrait of Sultan Mehmed II. An important moment of cultural diplomacy, this was the first of many intriguing episodes in the picture's history. Elizabeth Rodini traces Gentile's portrait from Mehmed's court to the Venetian lagoon, from the railway stations of war-torn Europe to the walls of London's National Gallery, exploring its life as a painting and its afterlife as a famous, often puzzling image. Rediscovered by the archaeologist Austen Henry Layard at the height of Orientalist outlooks in Britain, the picture was also the subject of a lawsuit over what defines a "portrait"; it was claimed by Italians seeking to hold onto national patrimony around 1900; and it starred in a solo exhibition in Istanbul in 1999. Rodini's focused inquiry also ranges broadly, considering the nature of historical evidence, the shifting status of authenticity and verisimilitude, and the contemporary political resonance of Old Master paintings. Told as an object biography and imagined as an exploration of art historical methodologies, this book situates Gentile's portrait in evolving dialogues between East and West, uncovering the many and varied ways that objects construct meaning. Vorwort The first book-length study on Bellini's famous portrait of Sultan Mehmed II, tracing its history from the Ottoman Empire to the present day. Zusammenfassung In 1479, the Venetian painter Gentile Bellini arrived at the Ottoman court in Istanbul, where he produced his celebrated portrait of Sultan Mehmed II. An important moment of cultural diplomacy, this was the first of many intriguing episodes in the picture’s history.Elizabeth Rodini traces Gentile’s portrait from Mehmed’s court to the Venetian lagoon, from the railway stations of war-torn Europe to the walls of London’s National Gallery, exploring its life as a painting and its afterlife as a famous, often puzzling image.Rediscovered by the archaeologist Austen Henry Layard at the height of Orientalist outlooks in Britain, the picture was also the subject of a lawsuit over what defines a “portrait”; it was claimed by Italians seeking to hold onto national patrimony around 1900; and it starred in a solo exhibition in Istanbul in 1999. Rodini’s focused inquiry also ranges broadly, considering the nature of historical evidence, the shifting status of authenticity and verisimilitude, and the contemporary political resonance of Old Master paintings.Told as an object biography and imagined as an exploration of art historical methodologies, this book situates Gentile’s portrait in evolving dialogues between East and West, uncovering the many and varied ways that objects construct meaning. Inhaltsverzeichnis List of IllustrationsAcknowledgements1. Pursuing a Portrait: Subject, Object, Method2. In Circulation: Courtly Exchange and the Discourse of Objects3. Encounters: Artist, Subject, Audiences, and the Matter of Truth in Painting4. History, Memory, and the Trails from Istanbul to Venice5. Self and Other: Excavating the Orientalist Imagination 6. Constructing Authenticity: Restoration, Provenance, and Reproduction7. To London? Emerging Debates over Cultural Patrimony8. Art, History, or Heirloom? Classifying G...
