An Afterglow of Byzantium in Ottoman Illustrated Manuscripts: The Case of the Pictorial Representation of Architecture

Autonomous Ottoman architectural and visual idioms evolved as they drew inspiration from miscellaneous foreign models which arose predominantly out of the Persianate Timurid-Turkmen and Byzantine traditions. Understanding the form and manner of the appropriation of Byzantine models into Ottoman pictorial representation of architecture contributes significantly to our comprehension of the intricate processes that shaped Ottoman book painting in the periods of its formation and greatest splendor. The Byzantine models appropriated by Ottoman painters were both pictorial and architectural. Mosaics and frescoes were easily accessible in the interiors of several former Byzantine churches converted into mosques. These converted structures, primarily in the region of Kostantiniyye (Istanbul), likewise enabled direct experience of Byzantine architecture and its decoration as they were incorporated into Ottoman actuality.