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Mehmed The Hunter’s Imperial Procession

Paintings commissioned by the 17th century Swedish Ambassador Claes Rålamb

June 1 - October 1, 2006

Sultan Mehmed IV, remembered as Mehmed the Hunter owing to his passion for hunting, departed for Edirne, in 1657 on a hunting expedition. The large entourage that accompanied him was a display of imperial majesty that has been preserved for history as a visual document in the form of a series of oil paintings commissioned by Claes Rålamb, then the Swedish Ambassador to Istanbul.

This almost cinematographic record consisting of a total of twenty paintings is preserved at the Nordiska Museet, Sweden. Sixteen of the paintings that are part of this visual register returned to Istanbul nearly three hundred and fifty years after this event as the guests of the Pera Museum.

Exhibition Catalogue

Mehmed The Hunter’s Imperial Procession

Mehmed The Hunter’s Imperial Procession

Sultan Mehmed IV, remembered as “Mehmed the Hunter” because of his passion for hunting, departed for Edirne in 1657 on a hunting expedition with a large entourage in a display of imperial majesty...

Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo was born on July 6, 1907 in Coyoacán, Mexico. Exactly 47 years from now, before she died in the same city and her beloved Mexico, many things would happen; she’d meet Diego Rivera, become a world-renowned artist, and allow many of her fans to dress like her on Halloween. 

The Battle of Varna

The Battle of Varna

Over the years of 1864 through 1876, Stanisław Chlebowski served Sultan Abdülaziz in Istanbul as his court painter. As it was, Abdülaziz disposed of considerable artistic talents of his own, and he actively involved himself in Chlebowski’s creative process, suggesting ideas for compositions –such as ballistic pieces praising the victories of Turkish arms. 

Memory of the Region

Memory of the Region

Objects also bear the memory of the geography to which they relate. Ceramics, with soil as their primary material, are directly linked to the land where they are produced: forging a direct relationship with earth, ceramics bear the memory of the soil where they come from.