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

OTTOMAN SCHOOL (19th century)
Portrait of Sultan Selim III
Gouache and watercolor on paper
titled at the bottom in a cartouche in Arabic and Latin characters “
Sultan Selim
“.
Framed under glass (at sight)
Height: 28 cm Width: 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 body of Janissaries removed a major obstacle to the reforms he and his successors undertook in the Empire, thus laying the foundations for the Tanzimat era that followed. 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 d’état in 1808 that overthrew his half-brother Mustafa IV. Early in its reign, the Ottoman Empire ceded Bessarabia to Russia at the end of the Russo-Turkish War of 1806–1812. Greece fought a victorious war of independence that began in 1821 with the support of Britain, France, and Russia, and Mahmoud 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 from 1830.
The continued decline of the Empire convinced Mahmoud to resume reforms that had been interrupted before he came to power. In 1826, he orchestrated the auspicious 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, Sultan Mahmoud launched a campaign to recentralize the empire which saw the submission of the derebeys and ayans to central authority. He also made radical changes to the bureaucracy to restore royal authority and increase administrative efficiency. He oversaw the reorganization of the Ottoman Foreign Ministry. In 1838, Mahmud established the Supreme Council of Judicial Ordinances and the following year he established a Council of Ministers. He died of tuberculosis later that year and was succeeded by his son Abdülmecid I, who continued his modernization efforts.