An Italian from Istanbul: Fausto Zonaro
In the second quarter of the 19th century, the grey skies of Europe turned into a subject that lost its inspiration for artists.
One of them was the Italian painter Fausto Zonaro. Zonaro was fascinated by Edmondo De Amicis' world-famous work “Constantinople” and its depiction of the streets of Istanbul, and instead of a country with bad luck, he set off towards the multicolouredness of a brand new opportunity and a completely different culture.
Zonaro was almost ecstatic while travelling around the city. Because there are so many colours in this city. Do bread and water feed a painter or thousands of colours? Zonaro is like in a gigantic fair in this city. Because the Muslims‘ Eid al-Adha ends, the Jews’ Pessah begins, followed by Easter and then the Greeks' holiday, Zonaro rushes from here to there and of course he paints, watching the Istanbul of the 19th century like a film.
As Zonaro fed on Istanbul, Istanbul began to offer him countless opportunities. So much so that Zonaro's fame soon reached the palace. It did not take long for his paintings to attract the attention of first diplomatic circles and then Ottoman dignitaries; orders followed orders, requests for private lessons never ceased. One day, of course, the Sultan would also notice Zonaro's Istanbul of a thousand and one colours…
His encounter with the Sultan was the fruit of a time when Zonaro was pursuing the colours of Istanbul. Zonaro, who for a while watched with the people of Istanbul every week on the Galata Bridge as Sultan Abdülhamid's private guard regiment marched to the Yıldız Mosque for the Friday salute, admired this white-horse cavalry unit consisting of carefully selected soldiers of Turkmen origin from Söğütlü, and immediately transferred this flamboyant march to his canvas. This painting, entitled ‘Ertuğrul Cavalry Regiment on the Bridge’, earned him the title of court painter. Aware that he represented the Sultan of the Ottoman capital, who did not neglect to follow the outside world in terms of art and literature, Zonaro enriched the palace collection with his paintings during the thirteen years he held this title; he organised this collection for foreign guests; he painted portraits of Hamid Hamid and his children, and his efforts were rewarded with numerous decorations.
The Sultan asks him to create a painting for the Thessalian War, upon which Zonaro prepares to go to the battlefield, and when he arrives at the Yılda Palace Grove, he encounters a giant mise-en-scene. Zonaro completes the painting, which he calls The Offensive, and leaves the Sultan in awe. The Sultan then asks the question befitting an Ottoman sultan: ‘Whatever you wish from me!’ Zonaro is thrilled to finally hear such a question and asks the Sultan for the 2500 square metre, 2500 square metre apartment number 50 in Akaret. The Sultan does not refuse Zonaro's offer; he gives him this magnificent three-storey house as a gift. With her life partner, the photographer Elisa, this house turns into an art studio that will transform the future rather than a living space, and this house also paves the way for the training of important women artists who will change the stage of history.
Osman Hamdi Bey's newly opened Sanayi-i Nefise (Industrial School of Fine Arts) fails to fulfil some of the deficiencies, which Zonaro tries to fill as much as possible by teaching the students of the painting department in his own studio. Muslim and non-Muslim young people, who were passionate about painting, would come and go to his studio without question. Only male students from the painting department? What about female students who had no right to education? Of course there was a place for female students, including Celile Hanım and Mihri Hanım, who would later become known as Nazım Hikmet's mother, in Hodja Zonaro's studio. Mihri Hanım, who was educated here in the following years, would one day pioneer the establishment of the Inas Sanayi-i Nefise (School of Fine Arts for Girls).
But time does not always announce, sometimes it dictates. At the beginning of 1909, Sultan Abdülhamid was exiled to Thessaloniki, and the looting of Yıldız Palace was the most unfortunate event he had ever seen. So much so that he could not help asking himself; ‘Would anyone ever loot his own house?’.
Anyway, he could no longer find himself in the colour of the city. He leaves countless artefacts to Istanbul and like his ancestor from Constantinople, the Byzantine historian Giovanni Zonaro, he leaves the streets of Istanbul with his mark, his dream and the blessings and good wishes of thousands of people whose lives he touched. Anyone who runs around the streets of this city with his sketchbook, admires the sunset and never tires of producing can one day feel Zonaro's spirit on the streets of Beşiktaş and become a part of the thousands of years old stories of this city.