Osman Hamdi Bey
Osman Hamdi Bey ( born December 30, 1842 in Istanbul, † February 24, 1910 in his beach villa in Istanbul Kuruçeşme ) was a Turkish archaeologist, artist and museum director.
As a painter, he is regarded as the founder of a private Turkish school, as an archaeologist and museum founder, he was a pioneer in the development of archeology on Turkish soil and in the preservation of ancient cultural property. He founded and led Turkey's first archaeological museum.
Life
Osman Hamdi was the eldest son of Sadrazam ( Grand Vizier ) İbrahim Edhem Pasha, a politician and engineer with Western education. The son showed early a keen interest in art and the ability for drawing and painting. Although born into a very begütertes home of the former upper class of the country, he completed his school education in a public school in Beşiktaş, and attended from 1856 of Law School ( Maarif -i Adliye ) in Constantinople Opel. In 1860 he was sent by his father to study law in Paris, where he was to enjoy an additional Western education. During his studies there he developed at the same time his talent for painting. He became a pupil of Jean -Léon Gérôme, Louis Boulanger and Fausto Zonaro.
In 1864 he married a French woman named Marie, with whom he had two daughters, Fatma and Hayriye. The marriage was valid for ten years. In 1873 he studied at the Vienna World Exhibition, where he had been sent professionally to know a 17 year old girl who was also French and Marie said. Osman Hamdi called Naile and married her. The couple had three daughters and one son: Melek, Leyla, Edhem ( son ) and Nazlı.
Work
When he finished his studies in 1869 and returned to the home, Osman Hamdi was appointed to the diplomatic service of the Ottoman Empire and was initially employed in the protocol department of the palace and for Foreign Affairs in the Ottoman province of Baghdad. There he began to deal with history and archeology, and participated in excavations.
He also conducted the first archaeological excavation and investigation of Turkish labor groups in Sidon in Lebanon. The there he discovered sarcophagi ( among them the so-called Alexander Sarcophagus ) is considered as archaeological pearls of world importance are to date.
In order to create these finds a worthy home storage and display frame, he ran the establishment of an archaeological museum. Hamdi Bey was appointed in 1881 in Constantinople, Sultanahmet district director of the Turkey 's first museum, founded by him Müze -i Humayun ( " Museum of the Empire " ), which opened on June 13, 1891, today's Archaeological Museum.
The building was built by Alexandre Vallaury (1850-1921), an architect Levantine descent. The exterior facade refers to the shape of the Alexander Sarcophagus. It is a fine example of neoclassical buildings in Istanbul.
1883 opened Osman Hamdi in the immediate vicinity of the Museum Art School Sanayi -i Nefise Mektebi (Institute of Fine Arts), which was devoted to the first Turkish décor of modern painting. The building of this institute now houses the Museum of the Ancient Near Eastern art. Also In 1883, " Osman Hamdi Bey, head of the Ottoman Empire Museum and Osgan Efendi, ... commissioned teacher at the Academy of Fine Arts, to embark on the Nemrut, to examine the monuments and inscriptions in detail and to collect as much information as possible. " the Nemrut Dagi followed excavations at another project in Lagina.
Osman Hamdi Bey was also instrumental adopted in the preparatory work for the 1884 " Law on the Protection of the ancient cultural heritage " ( Asar -ı Atika Nizamnamesi, short Antiquities Act) involved, explained by all the antiquities of the Ottoman Empire to the state-owned and all antiquities found by excavations first were awarded the archaeological museum. This law at the time was very important for the Ottomans, since it was necessary to prevent the uncontrolled export of ancient cultural heritage. For Hamdi Bey Museum, it meant that there was virtually received the rank of " State Museum " and became the center for the Ottoman antiques beings.
At the same time he continued his artistic activities continued as a painter. In 1884 he settled in Eskihisar, a village near Izmit, where his father had a residence, build a summer house, which he used as a studio. It is now owned by the state and since 1987 as Osman Hamdi Bey Evi ( residence Osman Hamdi Bey ) a museum with personal items, photographs, memories of Osman Hamdi Bey and reproductions of his paintings - figurative compositions oriental themes - the originals today are in private collections and museums.
In the last years of his life he focused on improvements of the museum and its activities as an artist. On February 24, 1910, he died in his beach villa in Istanbul Kuruçesme.
Painting (selection)
- Coffee furnace, 1879
- In the Harem, 1880
- Two girls playing musical instruments, 1880
- Koran -read girl, 1880
- Reading Arab, 1904. Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin
- The turtles educator, 1906
- The arms dealer, 1907
- Women in the courtyard of the mosque SEHZADEBASI, 1908
- Gate of Madrasa of Karaman
- The reading man
Publications
- With Osgan Efendi: Le Tumulus de Nemroud - Dagh. Voyage, description, inscriptions, Istanbul 1883 ( emphasis Istanbul 1987)
- With Théodore Reinach: Une nécropole royale à Sidon, Paris 1892