Jean-Baptiste van Mour

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Jean-Baptiste van Mour or Vanmour (January 9, 1671—January 22, 1737) was a Flemish-French painter, remembered for his detailed portrayal of life in the Ottoman Empire during the Tulip Era and the rule of Sultan Ahmed III.

[edit] Biography

A native of Valenciennes, he went to Istanbul with the French Ambassador Charles de Ferriol in 1699. De Ferriol commissioned van Mour to do 100 paintings of the local people, a series which has been published as prints. These works had a great influence on Western Europe's image of the inhabitants of the Ottoman Empire. Painting audiences with the Sultan became van Mour's speciality.

Cornelis Calkoen is known for his patronage of Jean-Baptiste van Mour, althoughh the latter had been working in the Ottoman capital for more than 30 years when Calkoen arrived as ambassador of the Dutch Republic. The new ambassador asked him to record his audience with Sultan Ahmed on canvas (since van Mour already had a reputation for painting ambassadors presenting their credentials to the sultan for posterity, such a request was to be expected).

He died in Istanbul.