European Supporters of Mehmed II

[Dom]

29 May 2013 will be the 560th anniversary of the fall of
Constantinople.

Years ago, I learned that the Venetian oligarchs remained neutral
during the seige of Constantinople in 1453. The Genoese participated
in the defense, and their force of 700 was commanded by Giovanni
Giustiniani who was mortally wounded.

Two weeks ago, when I visited the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, I was
stunned to see the medallion, by the Florentine Bertoldo di Giovanni,
celebrating Mehmed II and his conquest.

http://cdn2.all-art.org/artists-A/b10/97.jpg

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Mehmed+II+Bertoldo+di+Giovanni&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=li&biw=1280&bih=574&sei=peCKUYmCM-rR0gG5gIHQBw

It seems that the Florentine oligarchs supported Mehmed II. What other
European oligarchies supported him?

[++]

On May 20, 10:31 am, Dom <DR...@teikyopost.edu> wrote:
> 29 May 2013 will be the 560th anniversary of the fall of
> Constantinople.
>
> Years ago, I learned that the Venetian oligarchs remained neutral
> during the seige of Constantinople in 1453. The Genoese participated
> in the defense, and their force of 700 was commanded by Giovanni
> Giustiniani who was mortally wounded.
>
> Two weeks ago, when I visited the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, I was
> stunned to see the medallion, by the Florentine Bertoldo di Giovanni,
> celebrating Mehmed II and his conquest.
>
> http://cdn2.all-art.org/artists-A/b10/97.jpg
>

> http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Mehmed+II+Bertoldo+di+Giovanni&t...

>
> It seems that the Florentine oligarchs supported Mehmed II. What other
> European oligarchies supported him?

There are whole books and many articles (I wrote a couple once after a
grad seminar on Islamic influence in Renassiance Art) on the influence
of various Islamic cultures on Italian art. One of the most famous
portraits of Mehmet the Conqueror is by an Italian. Look at the
corpus of Bellini and his atelier, for example, as well as his
patrons.

There were also Orthodox troops on both sides. By the time
Constantinople was captured, the majority of the Balkans was under
Ottoman control. And as for the Ottomans, they had wrested control
from various Turkic and Mongol beyliks of which the Ottomans were but
one, as a culmination of battles and invasions starting with the
Selcuks

They lasting legacy of the west was the devastation put upon Orthodox
areas of the late Byzantine empire and its allies by the fourth
crusade. It is sad to see the glory that was Byzantium adorning St.
Mark's in Venice.

[Dom]

According to the following, the Florentine oligarchs were looking
forward to "the imminent Turkish invasion of the Kingdom of Naples."
=================

http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O134080/mehmed-ii-medal-di-giovanni-bertoldo/

Bertoldo di Giovanni was household sculptor to the Medici family in
Florence and designed this, his only signed medal, under the patronage
of Lorenzo de'Medici (Il Magnifico) in about 1480. An envoy was sent
from Mehmed II requesting artists be sent from Florence to Istanbul,
however Bertoldo himself never went to the Sultan's court. He probably
derived this portrait from the artist Gentile Bellini's portrait medal
of Mehmed II, executed during his time in the Sultan's court, an
example of which may have been sent to Florence as a diplomatic gift.
Lorenzo may have commissioned this medal in turn in gratitude for the
Sultan's seizure of the man who assassinated his brother, Guiliano
de'Medici, in the Pazzi conspiracy of 1478, and to demonstrate
Florentine artistic pre-eminence.
The reverse of the medal shows a triumphal chariot holding the
personifications of Ottoman conquered territories. It celebrates
Mehmed's military glory and connects him visually with the Triumphs of
the Roman Emperors, thus flattering his position as self-styled heir
to the Holy Roman Empire after his capture of Constantinople and
defeat of the remains of the Byzantine Empire in 1453. The impresa of
a flaming chair used by the Kings of Naples, enemies of Florence at
that time, is depicted on the side of the triumphal chariot. This
highly political portrait medal implies Lorenzo's support of the
imminent Turkish invasion of the Kingdom of Naples.