Ottoman School (19th Century) Portrait Of Sultan Selim III Gouache And Watercolour #2

OTTOMAN SCHOOL (19th century)
Portrait of Sultan Selim III
Gouache and watercolour on paper
inscribed at the bottom in a cartouche in Arabic and Latin script: ‘Sultan Selim’.
Framed under glass (visible)
H_28 cm W_25 cm
Good condition.

#2 Sultan Mahmud II (July 20, 1785 – July 1, 1839) was Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1808 until his death in 1839. Often described as the “Peter the Great of Turkey,” Mahmud instituted sweeping administrative, military, and fiscal reforms. The dissolution of the conservative Janissary corps removed a major obstacle to the reforms he and his successors undertook in the Empire, laying the groundwork for the subsequent Tanzimat era. Mahmud’s reign was also marked by further Ottoman military defeats and territorial losses resulting from nationalist uprisings and European intervention. Mahmud ascended the throne following a coup in 1808 that overthrew his half-brother Mustafa IV. At the beginning of his reign, the Ottoman Empire ceded Bessarabia to Russia at the end of the Russo-Turkish War of 1806–1812. Greece waged a victorious war of independence that began in 1821 with the support of Great Britain, France, and Russia, and Mahmud was forced to recognize the independence of the Greek state in 1832. The Ottomans lost more territory to Russia after the Russo-Turkish War of 1828–1829, and Ottoman Algeria was conquered by France starting in 1830. The continued decline of the Empire convinced Mahmud to resume the reforms that had been interrupted before he came to power. In 1826, he orchestrated the opportune incident in which the Kapıkulu were forcibly abolished and many of their members executed, paving the way for the creation of a modern Ottoman army and further military reforms. With this modern army in place, Sultan Mahmud launched a campaign to recentralize the empire, which saw the derebeys and ayans subjugated to central authority. He also implemented sweeping changes in the bureaucracy to restore royal authority and increase administrative efficiency. He oversaw the reorganization of the Ottoman Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1838, Mahmud established the Supreme Council of Judicial Ordinances, and the following year, he instituted a Council of Ministers. He died of tuberculosis later that year and was succeeded by his son, Abdülmecid I, who continued his modernization efforts