Acknowledgements
This book, like many of the images discussed herein, represents the culmination of a series of connections, conversations, and reflections. It would not have come together without the support and guidance of many individuals and institutions. Emine Fetvacı oversaw the completion of the doctoral dissertation from which this book was shaped. Her challenging questions, persistent coaxing, genuine curiosity, and valuable feedback encouraged me to make this work the best version of itself. Other readers and members of my dissertation committee at Boston University – Jodi Cranston, Jonathan Ribner, Alice Tseng, and Sunil Sharma – also deserve thanks.
I was fortunate to be awarded an Institute of Turkish Studies and Koç Holding Research Fellowship at the early stages of the book’s development. This fellowship supported crucial research in museums, collections, and archives in Istanbul, Bucharest, and Belgrade. The hospitality of Koç University during this time facilitated collegial conversations and friendships that made me feel at home even when I was away from home. In particular, I’d like to thank Günsel Renda for sharing her wisdom and experience in working with international collections.
In the time between completing my dissertation and publishing this book, I was welcomed to the Department of Art + Design at Northeastern University, which supported additional research through travel grants. I thank my colleagues in the visual studies cohort who engaged in lengthy conversations and brainstorms on the topics of visualisation, perception, and power. Particular thanks go to Gloria Sutton, Clareese Hill, and Maura Coughlin.
Thanks also go to the Department of Art History at the University of Delaware, where I am currently a Visiting Assistant Professor, for its collegial atmosphere and for covering part of the costs of image rights and reproduction. Sandy Isenstadt, Jennifer Van Horn, Lauren Hackworth Petersen, Linda J. Magner, and Polly Marchesani were particularly encouraging when this manuscript was in its final stages.
Special thanks are due to the librarians, staff, and administrators at the Koç University Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations (ANAMED), Başkanlık Osmanlı Arşivi, Topkapı Sarayı Müzesi, Narodni muzej Srbije, Muzej grada Beograda, Muzeul Municipiului Bucureşti, and Muzeul Național de Istorie a României. I also thank many of the university librarians with whom I’ve worked, without whose expertise many invaluable connections and conversations would have been lost.
Esra Akın-Kivanç deserves credit for inspiring many of the persistent research questions at the core of this book through our conversations when I was a graduate student in her office at the University of South Florida. It was at Esra’s urging that I picked up my first Turkish-language sources. I also wish to thank Himmet Taşkömür, Abdullah Uğur, and Eda Özel for their assistance in preparing transcriptions and translations from Ottoman Turkish sources. The final draft of this book also benefited from the scrutiny of Lydia Harrington, Shelby Forbes, and two anonymous readers provided by Brill.
Finally, I wish to thank all of the family and friends who supported me through the long process of preparing this work. My wife, Beth, deserves thanks for her unflagging enthusiasm and patience in discovering and discussing our visual world together. I would be remiss not to acknowledge the emotional support provided by Beau, Trixie, and Gertie. The biggest thanks go to my parents, to whom this work is dedicated. Thanks, Mom and Dad.