Portrait miniature of Sultan Mahmud II, rectangular, in monochrome on ivory, under glass, in a gilt metal frame, signed "Marras f. 1838".

Sultan Mahmud II (r. 1808-1839) began to commission portrait miniatures of himself after the reform of Ottoman court dress in 1829, when the fez and the military uniform replaced the turban and the Ottoman-style civil attire worn by the sultan. Known in Turkish as the tasvir-i hümayun, or "imperial portrait", these miniatures were presented as a mark of favour to both Ottomans and foreigners.

This portrait miniature is signed, “Marras f. 1833”. It is comparable with an example in the Topkapı Palace Museum in Istanbul (acc. no. 17/208) that is signed, “Marras f. 1832” (The Sultan’s Portrait: Picturing the House of Osman,exh.cat., Topkapı Palace Museum, Istanbul, 2000, no.153). The latter is one of six portrait miniatures in the Topkapı Palace that show closely related images of Sultan Mahmud II. In the three published examples (acc. nos 2/1023, 17/208, 17/211; The Sultan’s Portrait, nos 152–4), the Sultan is shown in uniforms of different colours, and with different orders around his neck, but they are otherwise very similar. The rendering of the uniforms and orders is naïve, and to an extent the quality of the miniatures as a whole justifies the unkind comments of William Dunlap (see below). The three published examples in Istanbul are all in polychrome, whereas the example in the V&A is in monochrome.

In 1834, William Dunlap published his History of the Rise and Progress of the Arts of Design in the United States (new edition by Alexander Wyckoff, [New York], [1965]), in which he recorded an artist called "M. Maras" (presumably "M[onsieur] Maras"):

"A Frenchman by birth, M. Maras visted America about the year 1800. In 1801–2 he painted poor miniatures in New York. A poor or bad artist flourishes best where the people are most ignorant; and M. Maras, with great judgement, transferred himself from New York to Constantinople, where he is at the head of affairs in the department of the fine arts, and painter to the sublime sultan. Charles Rhind, Esq., who negotiated our commercial treaty with the porte, recognized in the sultan’s portrait painter, M. Maras from New York. The present sultan, among his many reforms, patronizes the fine arts (at least so far as to despise what the Mahometan consider a religious prohibition), and, in imitation of more civilized monarchs, makes presents of his portrait in miniature to the ambassadors of other courts. This gives Maras full employment. The sultan puzzled the painter by requiring him to paint his sublimity on horseback, and the Frenchman was mounting him on a creature more like an ass than a horse, when my friend Rhind visited his rooms. He had possession of the grand signor’s magnificent sword and jewels, enough to make him a nabob – if he could keep them." (Dunlap, op. cit., vol. ii, pp. 283-5).

This miniaturist advertised in the New York press as John Marras in 1808, and a painter of the same name exhibited at the Philadelphia Academy in 1820 (George C. Groce and David H. Wallace, The New-York Historical Society’s Dictionary of Artists in America, 1564–1860, New Haven, 1957, p.423; Dunlap, op.cit., p.283, editor’s note). From this, it seems that his move to Istanbul occurred between 1820 and 1832, the date of his signed work in the Topkapı collection. The latter date can be moved forward a year as the commercial treaty between the Ottoman empire and the United States of America was negotiated in 1831 and ratified in 1832.

This “John Marras” has been confused with another painter of miniature portraits called Giovanni, or Juan, Marras so that he has been described as a “French artist of Spanish origin” (Günsel Renda, “Portraits: The Last Century”, in The Sultan’s Portrait, p.450. See also Harry Blättel, International Dictionary of Miniature Painters, Porcelain Painters, Silhouettists, Munich, [c.1992], p.614). Giovanni Marras was born in Naples in 1765 and died in 1830 (Blättel, loc.cit.), and he therefore died before the dated portrait miniatures from Istanbul were painted.

ME.70-2023