Portrait of Francis I, King of France (after J. Clouet)

This portrait of Francis I, King of France, by the Ottoman court artist Haydar (Nigari) was produced alongside a matching portrait of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. The inscription below the portrait contains the artist’s name (Haydar) and fictitiously proclaims that Francis and Charles visited Sultan Selim II (r. 1566-74) to collect an imperial decree. While the two monarchs, archrivals of the Ottoman sultans, never set foot in the Ottoman capital, images of their likenesses did, providing the artist with prototypes. Here, Nigari has taken a lost image of Francis by a follower of the French court painter Jean Clouet as his model to depict the ruler posing in three-quarter view and in a European headdress and costume. Simultaneously, he has executed the portrait using minimal depth and included details such as the stylized mustache of the king and the classical Ottoman pattern on his collar, which place the work in the tradition of Islamic painting. The artist Haydar Nigari was a sea captain and was in charge of the Ottoman Imperial Naval yards. He was also a poet and close companion of Selim II during his princedom and rule. Both portraits were most likely later included in an album made for Ahmed I (r. 1603-17) partially known as the Bellini album.