Visual Representation of Ottoman Domination in the Mediterranean: Preveza Naval Victory in Oil Paintings

Abstract

The representation of Ottoman wars that ended in victories or defeats in depictions on the theme of warfare in the history of painting art constitutes a part of the tradition that has been maintained for centuries. Although people have acquired the events that took place in the past from written sources, they have portrayed the developments that left a mark on the world, especially wars, in their minds from time to time through such descriptions. This situation, when fed with the idea of heroism, left its place to a visual image that turned into heroic emotions. It is possible to feel the most beautiful reflections of this in the paintings on the Preveza Naval Victory of 1538. It was thanks to these paintings that this struggle, which was one of the largest naval battles that enabled the Ottoman Empire to establish a significant superiority in the Mediterranean, turned into a visual document. Because this image, which engraved the invincibility of the Ottomans in minds, triggered the birth of a strong Turkish image in a way. At the same time, it made a great visual contribution to the Ottoman historical narrative. Moreover, it started to produce its first products from the middle of the 19th century. But the greatest contribution that the Preveze Naval Battle has made to this field is that it has brought the earliest Ottoman battle painting from the brush of a Turkish painter to the art of painting. In this article, the dominance of the Ottoman Empire in the Mediterranean has been visually documented through these paintings.