original scientific article	UDC 75.034.7.041,5:929Carli
received: 2010-03-26
A SERIES OF PORTRAITS FROM THE BEQUEST OF THE COUNTS OF CARLI IN POREČ/PARENZO AND PICTORIAL REPRESENTATIONS OF CENTRAL EUROPEAN ENVOYS TO THE OTTOMAN COURT
Polona VIDMAR University of Maribor, Faculty of Arts, SI-2000 Maribor, Slomškov trg 15 e-mail: polona.vidmar@uni-mb.si
ABSTRACT
The article deals with eight portraits of the Koper patrician family Carli, preserved in Porec Regional Museum. The family members are dressed alla turca to signify their service as dragomans at the Ottoman Porte. Their accurately painted clothes, headdresses and jewellery are discussed in the light of recent costume studies and contemporary travellers' books. The author attempts to identify some of the family members depicted in the portraits on the basis of inscriptions, painted details and comparison with portraits of Central European and Venetian envoys to the Porte.
Key words: Counts Carli, dragomanni, baroque painting
RITRATTI DA UN LASCITO DEI CONTI CARLI A PARENZO E LE EFFIGIE DEGLI INVIATI CENTROEUROPEI ALLA CORTE OTTOMANA
SINTESI
ll contributo analizza otto ritratti della famiglia patrizia di Carli di Capodistria, conservati al Museo Regionale di Parenzo. I membri della famiglia sono vestiti alla turca per indicare il loro servizio come dragomanni presso la Sublime porta. I loro vestiti, acconciature e gioielli, dipinti con grande accuratezza, sono discussi alla luce dei recenti studi di costume e libri di viaggiatori contemporanei. L'autrice cerca di identificare alcuni dei membri familiari raffigurati nei ritratti in base alle descrizioni, particolari dipinti e confronti con ritratti di inviati centroeuropei e veneziani presso la Porta ottomana.
Parole chiave: conti Carli, dragomanni, pittura barocca
INTRODUCTION
In Poreč regional museum (Zavičajni muzej Po-reštine), eleven portraits of the Carli noblemen and a painted family tree of the family are preserved.1 The paintings were made for the Palazzo Carli in Ko-per/Capodistria and came to Poreč after the fall of La Serenissima 1797, when Agostino Carli moved from Koper to Poreč (Pasian in Pavanello, Walcher, 2001, 177). In 1813, when Stefano Carli died, the entire Carli property was bequeathed to the town of Poreč (Bralic, Kudiš Buric, 2006, 361).
In eight of the eleven portraits, the family members are dressed alla turca. The reason for this kind of attire is that members of the Carli family from Koper served as official interpreters or dragomans in the service of the Venetian Republic at the Ottoman Porte.2 The first known Carli dragoman was Bartolomeo in 1611. The tradition of sending sons to Constantinople/Istanbul, where they stayed in the palace of the Venetian bailo in Pera (Setton, 1991, 410) in order to learn languages and became interpreters, lasted until the mid-18th century (Infelise, 1996, 191). The last known Carli count sent to Constantinople was Stefano (1726-1813), who spent almost eight years in the capital of the Ottoman Empire. Although he did not become a dragoman after his language studies, but returned first to Venice and then to Koper, the sojourn in Constantinople left a significant impression on him. After his return, he wrote the stage play La Erizia, tragedia nuova dedicata alii signori de Voltaire e Rousseau. The tragedy is based on his direct knowledge of the Ottoman Empire. As regards the portraits of the Carli family interpreters, it should be stated that Stefano placed great emphasis not only on the story in his play, but also on the Ottoman customs.3
Seven portraits from the Poreč collection were recently published in the book Istria citta maggiori, in the Istanbul exhibition catalogue Image of the Turks in the 17th century Europe and in the book Slikarska bastina Istre (Pavanello, Walcher, 2001, 176-180; Olger, dag-
man, Vidmar, 2005, 286-299; Bralic, Kudiš Buric, 2006, 360-368.). One of the portraits was previously unpub-lished.4 The painters remain unknown; the paintings have been attributed to both Venetian and local painters and also to the circle of Sebastiano Bombelli (16351719). Not only are the painter and the date of the execution of the portraits uncertain, the identity of the persons depicted in them is also an unresolved question. Only three persons can be identified by the inscriptions on the paintings: Gian Rinaldo Carli at the age of 22, Gian Rinaldo Carli in his more advanced years and his wife Cattarina Carli of the Negri family from Genova. This paper does not attempt to answer the question of who the authors of the portraits were; rather, it sets out to provide a more accurate account of when the portraits were painted and the identity of the persons in them. As two counts of Carli5 appear in different attire and without the specific attributes of interpreters, they were not identified as dragomans. Nina Kudiš Buric and Višnja Bralic described them as dignitaries, while Ales-sio Passian presumed that one of them was a Venetian ambassador to the Ottoman court, known as a bailo. By comparing them to other portraits of Venetian dignitaries and to portraits of the Central-European ambassadors to the Ottoman court, I will attempt to prove the hypothesis that these two portraits also depict dragomans. The article also aims to describe more precisely the attire alia turca in light of recent costume studies, and at the same time introduce the unpublished female portrait into the art history debate.
DRAGOMANS FROM KOPER IN PORTRAIT SERIES
The portrait series in Poreč is a gallery of important family members who the counts of Carli wished to commemorate and celebrate in this way. The portraits of dragomans were painted by western painters for a western audience, but not necessarily in the lifetime of the sitters. In Koper, the Tarsia family also celebrated its members as dragomans in the service of the Venetian Republic with a series of portraits. The portraits were
1	The paintings have the inventory numbers: ZMP 1675, ZMP 1675, ZMP 1678, ZMP 1679, ZMP 1680, ZMP 1681, ZMP 1687, ZMP 1702, ZMP 1701, ZMP 2130, ZMP 2239, ZMP 2558.
2	About Istrian dragomans in Constantinople see the recent contributions by: Yerasimos, 2005, 36-43; Cardina, 2005, 56-61; Concina, 2006, 185. In the 18th century Ciovanni Crevembroch explained that Serenissima sent some youths from Venice to Constantinople in order to learn Turkish. ... Da questo corpo de cittadini col tempo si formano quei died dragomani dalle Pubbliche Leggi stabiliti, sette de quali stanno sempre appresso del Veneto Bailo, uno a Corfu, l'altro in Dalmazia ed il terzo a Venezia, onde servire alle occorenze i Proveditori Cenerali e i Magistrati. Cli uni e gli altri profittano del salario di venti zecchini al mese, la qual moneta pero in Oriente non ascende a quindeci lire veneziane per cadauno. Le loro incombenze sono di ridursi a! Ministri dell'Eccelsa Porta, trattare affari della Nazione, tradurre lettere e carte d'ogni sorte e referire il risultato con intiera puntualita all'Ambasciadore... (Ciovanni Crevembroch, Cli abiti de Veneziani di quasi ogni eta con diligenza raccolti e dipinti nel secolo XVIII, Biblioteca del Museo Correr, mss. Cradenigo-Dolfin 49, vol. IV, tav. 147; quoted after Concina, 2006, 185).
3	Casparo Cozzi, who encouraged Stefano Carli to publish the play, wrote to him in a letter: "Sopra tutto mi parvero nuovi i costumi Turcheschi, da lei molto intesi e dipinti" (quoted after Ivetic 1998, 219; see also Sirok 1999, 220-223).
4	Portrait with inventory number ZMP 2558.
5	Portraits with inventory numbers ZMP 1680 and ZMP 1682.
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displayed in the drawing room of the Palazzo Tarsia in Koper and were presented to Koper Regional Museum in 1919. As Edvilijo Gardina pointed out, one of the 15 paintings was signed by Natalis Bartolini, a painter from Koper,5 but this portrait was unfortunately lost during World War II (Gardina, 1981, 113; 2005, 274). According to Gardina, some of the Tarsia portraits were executed by Bartolini's hand, while some are the work of another painter; the difference in quality points to two artists rather than one. It is possible that Bartolini had only just completed the already existing series of portraits when at the same time the previously full-figured Tarsia portraits were cut to fit the frames in the stucco, most probably after Alvise Tarsia was appointed a count in 1725 (Gardina, 2005, 274; Pavanello, Walcher, 2001, 110).
The dragomans Christophoro, Marco, Ruggero, Gia-como and Tommaso Tarsia are wearing brown, white or blue satin caftans with golden arabesque embroidery and thick rows of small buttons, reaching to their waist.7 These long-sleeved caftans are worn as an undergarment or entari, and bound with knotted sashes of different colours. All the dragomans are wearing heavy, probably velvet caftans or overcoats with a fur lining and typical dragoman caps with a wide fur trim. Such caps, named kalpak, were a sign of non-Muslim subjects in the Ottoman Empire. The caps were made of leather, fur or thick cloth, but only doctors and dragomans could wear kal-paks of astrakhan and sable fur (Biniok, 1985, 253). Books, papers, sealed letters and round pendants, probably containing a seal, are all attributes of their profession.8 Five dragomans stand in interior settings, characterised with heavy single-coloured or patterned curtains and tables covered with single-coloured tablecloths. There is no landscape view in the background, which would remind the viewer that the sitters were employed at the Ottoman Porte. It is above all the clothing which characterises the sitters as dragomans. All the portraits contain inscriptions referring to the name and the profession of interpreters, but only the portrait of Tommaso Tarsia is dated 1581. Tommaso was appointed dragomanno grande, the highest post in the hierarchy of Venetian interpreters, in 1580 (Gardina, 2005, 284).9 He retained this position until his death in
Fig. 1: Portrait of Gian Rinaldo Carli, Poreč Regional Museum/Zavičajni muzej Poreštine (photo: P. Vidmar). Sl. 1: Portret Giana Rinalda Carlija, Pokrajinski muzej Poreč (foto: P. Vidmar).
1716. Edvilijo Gardina presumed that Tommaso was in Koper in 1685 and that during that time the portraits of family members in dragoman attire were created (Gardina, 2005, 284).
Although members from other Koper families, such as Brutti and Borisi, also served as interpreters, the whereabouts of their portraits are unknown. They may have been lost, but since we have no firm evidence of their existence in the first place, it is possible that they were not painted for reasons as yet unknown. Nina Trauth recently interpreted the absence of dragomans in
6	Bartolini's signature appeared on the portrait of Alvise Tarsia. The portrait was dated 1732.
7	For the garments made in the cut of the caftan and worn alternatively as an over coat, jacket of unergarment, cf. Vitzthum, 2009.
8	Edvilijo Gardina interpreted the large ears on some Tarsia portraits as attributes of their responsible and dangerous occupation (cf.: Gardina, 2005, 276, 280).
9	In the 18th century, Giovanni Grevembroch described the position and attire of dragomanno grande in the following way: ... Prima dell'ultima guerra della Morea accostumava la Repubblica di distinguere il piu benemerito e capace di tal'interpreti col titolo di grande Dragomano, il quale compariva alla Corte Ottomana con maestoso abito e con qualque treno, e pero gli era assegnato un annuo onorario di circa due milla reali... (quoted after Concina, 2006, 185). Dragomanno grande was present along with the bailo at the audiences of the sultan or grand vizier. Dragomannipiccoli served at the Porte and translated the Turkish resprectively Venetian letters. Dragomanno della strada accompanied the bailo on his way from Venice to Constantinople (cf. Gardina, 1981, 130). Tommaso is also mentioned in Setton (1991, 410).
Fig. 2: Portrait of Gian Rinaldo Carli, Poreč Regional Museum/Zavičajni muzej Poreštine (photo: P. Vidmar). Sl. 2: Portret Giana Rinalda Carlija, Pokrajinski muzej Poreč (foto: P. Vidmar).
portraits as a deliberate strategy; anonymity was, in her opinion, a basic condition for their safety. There was no fixed dragoman attire for the same reason (Trauth, 2009, 65). This last fact relating to attire may be true, but I see no connection between the dragoman portraits in the palaces of their families in Koper and their preferred anonymity in practising their profession in Constantinople.
PORTRAITS OF GIAN RINALDO CARLI
At approximately the same time as the portrait of Tommaso Tarsia was produced, the portrait of his first cousin Gian Rinaldo Carli was painted. Gian Rinaldo was born to Girolamo Carli and Bradamante Tarsia (Yerasimos, 2005, 39).10 In 1670, he entered the service of the Venetian Republic and was sent to Constantinople in order to learn languages. In 1677, he was appointed interpreter to the Governor of Dalmatia and in 1681, on the recommendation of the ambassador Giovanni Morosini in 1680, he was transferred from Dalmatia to Constantinople (Infelise, 1996, 191; Yerasimos, 2005, 39).11 In 1693, he moved to Hungary, but left his wife and children in Constantinople (Bralic, Kudis Buric, 2006, 363).12 In 1716, he was appointed dragomanno grande and received the hereditary title of count (Yerasimos, 2005, 39). Mario Infelise has discussed the poetical and historical essays which Gian Rinaldo Carli translated from Turkish to Italian, and the cooperation of Gian Rinaldo with the Venetian bailo Giambattista Dona (Infelise, 1996). He also pointed out that Gian Rinaldo Carli did not spend the entire forty years of his appointment in Constantinople, but often travelled to Venice. During his sojourns in Venice or in his home town, his two portraits were painted.
His first portrait is very similar to the portraits of his cousins from the Tarsia family; according to the inscription he was painted in 1679 at the age of 22.13 He is depicted in a three-quarter length portrait wears a white caftan with golden arabesque embroidery and thin buttons, bound with a sash of similar fabric. He has a similar red coat with fur lining to those worn by the Tarsias, but the fur-trimmed dragoman cap lies on the table next to him. The background and the attributes of his profession are also painted in a similar fashion to the Tarsia portraits. The painter was only more accurate in the depiction of the books on the table. The viewer can clearly recognise dictionaries with the languages Gian Rinaldo mastered. Another difference to the Tarsia portraits is the position of his right hand, which he is using to hold onto his belt, and at the same time onto the dagger stuck into the belt.
The inscription on the second portrait of Gian Rinaldo Carli designates him as "interpres magnvs", a
10	The portrait of Bradamante Tarsia Carli is also preserved in Porec Museum (inv. n. ZMP 1701).
11	Infelise and Yerasimos mention that Gian Rinaldo Carli was born around 1646, probably because when he was appointed dragomano grande in 1716, it was mentioned that he would soon be seventy and that he had already served the Republic for 46 years. But since in 1670 he was still mentioned as "giovine di lingua" and since on the portrait from 1679 he is depicted at the age of 22, we may assume that he was born no earlier than in the mid fifties.
12	Gian Rinaldo Carli owned a house in Constantinople, in the quarter of Galata (cf. Infelise, 1996, 191).
13	The portrait measures 127 x 95cm. The insription appears to the right on a neutral background: RINALDVS CARLI/ HIERONIMI FILIVS/ NOBILI/ CONSTANTINOPOLITANVS/ SERRE(NISSIMA) REP(UBL)CA VENETAE/ AD PORTAM IMPERO TURCARVM/ INTERPRES AETATIS SVAE XXII/ ANNO CRI. MDC.LXXIX.
dragomanno grande.14 It is most probably a later addition to the painting, since he did not became dragomanno grande until 1716, when he was approximately 60 or 70 years old. The portrait depicts the man in middle-age and must have been painted around 1700 or earlier (Pavanello, Walcher, 2001, 177; Bralic, Kudiš Buric, 2006, 363). Gian Rinaldo is wearing a white en-tari with golden arabesque embroidery and with gold buttons and a golden belt. From one of the buttons hangs a signet chain. His red cloak, which has a blue lining, is made of silk fabric. The background is marked by a heavy curtain and an African page boy, who holds the fur-trimmed dragoman cap in his hand.15 Other attributes of the profession are missing: there are no books, dictionaries or sealed letters. Alessio Passian attributed this portrait to a Venetian painter, who was active around the turn of the 18th century (Pavanello, Walcher, 2001, 177).
Gian Rinaldo Carli appears in three quarter profile on both portraits. His pose and the position of his right hand are similar on both paintings, yet differences can be seen in the position of his left hand, his attire and in the background. Facial features show the same man in his twenties and in his forties; the shape of his moustache has not changed. The second portrait looks more representative because of the size of the painting, the accurately depicted attire and because of the African boy in the background. Since the painter of the second portrait neglected all of the attributes of the profession, the viewer would be unable to identify the figure in the portrait as an interpreter without the inscription. In the primary setting in Palazzo Carli this was probably unnecessary, since the portrait was exhibited alongside older ones and the alia turca attire was enough to signify his profession.
TWO DRAGOMANS FROM THE SECOND HALF OF THE 17th CENTURY
The full-length Carli portraits with inventory numbers 1678 and 1679 do not differ essentially from the Tarsia portraits and the older portrait of Gian Rinaldo.16 Ales-sio Passian attributed them to an unknown local painter from the second half of the 17th century (Pavanello, Walcher, 2001, 178-179), Višnja Bralic and Nina Kudiš Buric stated that the painter displays influences of the Venetian workshops around the turn of the 18th century, but because of the deficiencies in artistic expression they presumed that the painter worked primarily for patrons
Fig. 3: Portrait of a dragoman, Poreč Regional Museum/ Zavičajni muzej Poreštine (photo: P. Vidmar). Sl. 3: Portret dragomana, Pokrajinski muzej Poreč (foto: P. Vidmar).
around Venice (Bralic, Kudiš Buric, 2006, 365). Both dragomans are wearing caftans or entaris with a floral pattern and with rows of small buttons. The man with the red entari has a heavy coat with fur lining; the one in the brown entari wears a lighter cloak, probably his summer dress. The pale gold brown cloak with dark red lining has striking gold buttons set with rubies and other jewels. The dragoman in the brown entari is the only one in the series depicted with a sword and a dagger. The clasp of his belt, the grip of the dagger and the metal plates on the sheath are golden and adorned with rubies and other jewels. He is also the only one whose dragoman cap is adorned with golden decoration and jewels. Both interpreters hold their red fur trimmed
14	The portrait measures 222 x 152 cm. The inscription appears to the left on the neutral background: C. RINALDVS CARLI/ SERENISSIMAE/ REIPVBLICAE/ VENETIARVM/ INTERPRES/ MACNVS.
15	At the time of the execution of Gian Rinaldo's portrait the depiction of European men and women accompanied with African page boys or African girls was already a long tradition, started in 1520's with the Tizian's portrait of Laura Eustochia entitled Dianti (cf. Trauth, 2009, 53).
16	The paintings measure 223 x 152 cm (inv. n. 1678) and 222 x 150 cm (inv. n. 1679).
Fig. 4: Portrait of a dragoman, Poreč Regional Museum/ Zavičajni muzej Poreštine (photo: P. Vidmar). Sl. 4: Portret dragomana, Pokrajinski muzej Poreč (foto: P. Vidmar).
dragoman caps in their hands and have a red under-cap on their heads. On the tables we can see the usual attributes of the dragoman profession: books, dictionaries and sealed letters.
Although, at first sight, the paintings look like pendants, they were not planned as a pair. The difference can be seen in the background. The man in the brown
entari stands in an interior marked with a heavy curtain and a neutral wall, the man in the red entari is placed in an open loggia marked with a column and a curtain but with a wide landscape view with cypresses on the left. The painting of the interpreter in the brown garment lacks an inscription, on the other painting we can see the inscription on the upper right side of the painting.17 The inscription is damaged in the first rows, where the name of the dragoman appears. He is quoted as "pri-marius interpres" at the Ottoman Porte and as "con-siliarivs" of Emperor Leopold I. He was painted at the age of 50. At the end of the inscription, the date 168(6) appears, but the last number is somewhat unclear. It is not certain if this date refers to the period in which he performed his state duties or to the date of the origin of the painting. If the inscription is correct, the man in the portrait is probably not a member of the Carli family, but of the previously mentioned Tommaso Tarsia, who was dragomano grande from 1680 until 1716. It was Tom-maso who was entrusted with the important task of taking charge of a diplomatic mission during the Turkish siege of Vienna in 1683. He described the events during the war in great detail and his misfortune following the retreat of the defeated Turkish troops.18 The identification might seem surprising since we would expect only portraits of the Carli family to be in the Carli palace, but as Tommaso was dragomanno grande in the 1680's and because Tarsias and Carlis were near relatives, the portrait may have been a gift from Tommaso to his aunt Bradamante Tarsia Carli and her family.19 Tommaso's activities during the siege of Vienna may also explain the reference to the councillor of Emperor Leopold I. in the inscription.20 A comparison of the facial features of the person depicted in this painting with the portrait of Tommaso Tarsia in Koper Museum does little to confirm or deny the proposed identification, since they are much too general. However, it can be stated that the form of the dark beard is very similar in both portraits and does not appear in any other portrait of the Tarsia or Carli family. The identity of the second dragoman remains unknown; as already stated, this portrait may have been painted by the same painter but not as a pendant to the presumed portrait of Tommaso Tarsia.
17	/... NO... SIA / PRINCIPIS ET SACRI ROMANI/ IMPERII ET REGNI HVNGARIAE/ DEAVRATVS EQVES N... / INTER. MAGNATES REGNI / AC CREATVS SACRAE CAESAREAE / REGIAE Q MAIESTATIS LEO... / PRIMI CONSILIARIVS ET LING... / ORIENTALIVM AD PORTAM / OTOMANICAM PRIMARIVS / INTERPRES AETATIS SVAE / QVINQVAGENERARIVS AO 168(6).
18	The report is kept in the Koper archives and entitled: Relatione di me Thomaso Tarsia Cavaliere Dragomano Grande della Serenissima Republica di Venezia alla Porta Ottomana, con la descritione del compendio delli successi piu essentiali accaduti nella guerra intrapresa dai Turchi contro l'Ungheria l'anno 1683 - unita ad una ristretta naratione di quel tanto sinistro incorse alla mia persona a casa sino dopo la fuga del signor Segretario Cappello.
19	In the same year he donated the golden monstrance, which he allegedly bought for a large sum from a Tatar who was looting the Lower Austrian churches during the siege of Vienna, to the monastery church of St. Blasius. This donation was regarded as a sign of his devotion to his hometown (cf. Cardina, 2005, 284).
20	Tommaso was again in Vienna in December 1698 with his brother Ciacomo, when the texts for the Sremski Karlovci (Karlowitz) peace treaty were being prepared under the guidance of the Venetian nobleman Carlo Ruzzini (cf. Cardina, 2005, 285).
DRAGOMANS OR DIGNITARIES?
Because the attributes of the dragoman profession (books, dictionaries or sealed letters) are missing on two of the full-length Carli paintings,21 and because their attire differs from the previously mentioned paintings, the figures depicted have been described not as interpreters but as dignitaries. Višnja Bralic and Nina Kudiš Buric do not explain exactly what kind of dignitary they have in mind, but Alessio Passian presumed that one of them was a Venetian ambassador to the Ottoman Porte - a bailo. The author of this contribution compared their attire with the attire of the imperial envoy Walter, Count of Leslie (Bralic, Kudiš Buric, 2006, 366-368; Pavanello, Walcher, 2001, 179-180; Vidmar, 2005, 290). As none of these hypotheses are acceptable, the attire of both Carlis should be reconsidered. Both men appear in dark interiors, standing next to tables. One of them is wearing a white silk caftan with golden buttons and a green stripped sash. He has a red fur-lined coat and a red cap on his head. A medallion hangs from one of the buttons and he holds a letter in his hand. The other one is wearing a brown caftan with gold buttons and a dark sash. His velvet coat is lined with ermine. His cap is also fur-trimmed. From one of the buttons hangs a medallion. To the right appears a large column with a red curtain in the upper section.
Comparison with the portraits of the ambassador shows that these men are probably not ambassadors to the Ottoman Porte. In the portraits, the Venetian ambassadors usually wear a Venetian official robe, as can be seen in the portraits of the bailo Giovanni Emo, painted around 1725, in Museo Correr (Koch, 1996, 345) and in the copy of the portrait of the bailo Giovanni Capello by Grevenbroch (Concina, 2006, 183). Their attire corresponds with the description of Giuseppe Caprin from 1907: "I baili portavano gli abiti alla veneziana: beretta a tozzo rossa; calze e scarpe rosse; zimarra di seta rossa ricamata d' oro; i dragomanni vestivano alla turca, e cosi le loro mogli." There are exceptions, such as the portrait of the bailo Giambattista Dona by Pietro Liberi in Museo Correr. The Dona' blue robe with golden embroidery and gold buttons and his fur-trimmed coat are similar to the attire of the Carlis.
We can find some similarities also when comparing them to the attire of the Imperial ambassadors to the Ottoman Porte. From 1560 the Imperial ambassadors to Constantinople wore Hungarian attire (Koch, 1996, 344).22 This is the kind of attire we can see worn by Walter, Count of Leslie, who led the Imperial diplomatic mission to Constantinople in 1665, and Wolfgang IV., Count of Oettingen-Wallerstein, who served as ambassador in the year 1 700.23 Hungarian attire consisted of a
Fig. 5: Portrait of a dragoman, Poreč Regional Museum/ Zavičajni muzej Poreštine (photo: P. Vidmar). Sl. 5: Portret dragomana, Pokrajinski muzej Poreč (foto: P. Vidmar).
21	The paintings measure 222 x 150 cm (inv. n. ZMP 1680) and 222 x 152 cm (inv. n. ZMP 1681).
22	This was a political decision since both countries, the Ottoman Empire and the Holy Roman Empire, had pretensions towards Hungary.
23	Four portraits of Walter Count of Leslie in ambassador's attire are preserved: a copper engraving by Franciscus van der Steen from 1668 in the National Library in Vienna, a copper engraving by Leonard Henry van Otteren, published in Galeazzo Gualdo Priorato, Historia di Leopoldo Cesare..., 2. part, 1670, a painted portrait in the castle Nove Mesto nad Metuji in Czech Republic and a litography by Carl Agricola and Robert Theer from the mid-19th century, made after the mentioned painted portrait (cf. Vidmar, 2007). The painted portrait of the Ambassador Wallenstein by Frans van Stampart is preserved in Wallerstein Castle in Germany. This portrait was the model for the copper engravings by Johann Andreas Pfeffel sen. and E. Nunzer from 1700 (cf. Trauth, 2009, 238, 240; Koch, 1996, 345).
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Fig. 6: Portrait of a dragoman, Poreč Regional Museum/ Zavičajni muzej Poreštine (photo: P. Vidmar). Sl. 6: Portret dragomana, Pokrajinski muzej Poreč (foto: P. Vidmar).
caftan with a gold floral pattern and a precious sleeveless caftan or coat with golden embroidery lined with sable fur. They wore red velvet caps trimmed with sable fur and adorned with a precious stone and a large black bunch of heron feathers from the Imperial treasury.24
Before their departure both ambassadors summoned Turkish tailors to Vienna to sew clothing for them and their companions (Trauth, 2009, 251).25 Although actually Hungarian, the attire was obviously perceived as foreign, oriental, Turkish specifically, since they invited Turkish tailors. This is also obvious from the directive which Count Wallerstein gave to his companions before departure: They have to "... in der Herren Grafen Libera, welche auf Türckisch sein wirdt, gekleidet werden, und wirdt gar kein Teutscher oder Französischer habit be' der gantzen suite, sobald sie von Wien ausgehet, zu sehen seyn" (quoted after Trauth, 2009, 251). In the Styrian castle Herberstein one can see the portrait of Johann Josef, Count of Herberstein, who accompanied the previously mentioned embassy of Count Leslie in 1665. In the portrait, which was not yet published, count Johann Josef appears in a caftan with a rich floral pattern, a white stripped sash and a sleeveless caftan lined with dark brown fur.26 It is uncertain whether Count Herberstein is depicted in the garments sewn by the Turkish tailors in Vienna or in a caftan, which he received as a present from Turkish dignitaries during his journey and in Constantinople (cf. Tafferner, s. a.).27 Only the silver fur trimmed cap with jewels and white features on the table next to Johann Josef is undoubtedly of Hungarian, indeed western origin. The attire of both men from the Carli series is indeed similar to that of the imperial ambassadors, but the similarities do not extend to the Turkish cut of the caftans. The coats are not lined with sable fur and the caps of both men are not adorned with features and jewels from the imperial treasury, as in the case of the ambassadors Leslie and Wallerstein.
To prove that the two Carlis were interpreters and not dignitaries or ambassadors we can compare them with other images of interpreters. The fact that the attributes of the dragoman profession do not appear on the painting is not an obstacle to such a hypothesis, because they are also missing from the second Gian Rinaldo Carli portrait. Alessandro della Via depicted the main participants of the peace treaty in Pozarevac (Posaroviz) in 1718.28 His engraving shows the Venetian and Otto-
24	The following inscription can be found in the report about the Wallerstein journey from 1700: Auff dem Haupt hatten Sie eine hochroth Sammete- mit Zobel gebremte Ungarische Haube / darauf ein groß und breiter schwartzer Reyerbusch auß der kaiserlichen Schatzkammer / und an demselben ein sehr kostbares Kleinod zu sehen; Dero Oberrock von einem der reichesten Goldstücken / und durch und durch mit dem allerkostbahrsten Zobeln gefüttert war / auf dem Rücken eine Zobel Taffel habent; der Unterrock war von einem geblümten puren drap d'or... (quoted after Koch, 1996, 345-346; cf. also Volckhamer, 1988, 18).
25	In Wallerstein Castle there are also eleven portraits of the ambassador's companions in the clothing they wore in Constantinople.
26	This portrait was a model for the copper engraving by Johannes Caspar Mannasser, kept in the Styrian archive in Graz.
27	Ingrid Biniok mentioned that after the official permission for the audience and after the delivery of presents, the ambassador and his retinue received the following items of clothing: the ambassador the sable fur, his secretaries the ermine fur, his distinguished companions the wool-fabric kerake (kerrake is a fine cloak made of wool and mohair) and less important companions caftans from less valuable material; dressed in these items they were received in the reception room (arz odasi) (cf. Biniok, 1985, 251-252). The Swedish ambassador, Claes Brorson Ralamb, who was in Constantinople in 1657, described in his diary different occasions on which he and his companions were presented with caftans (cf. Alpaslan Ar^a, 2009, 55).
28	The engraving by Alessandro della Via was published in Vendramino Bianchi, Istorica relazione della pace di Posaroviz, Padova, Seminario, 1719. Vendramino Bianchi was the secretary of the congress in Posaroviz (cf. Infelise, 1996, 197).
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Fig. 7: Alessandro délia Via, Participants of the peace treaty in Posaroviz/Požarevac (Bianchi, 1719, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek Wien). Si. 7: Alessandro della Via. Udeleženci mirovne konference v Požarevcu (Bianchi, 1719, Avstrijska nacionalna knjižnica Dunaj).
man plenipotentiaries, Carlo Ruzzini and Ibrahim Pasha, as well as the English and Dutch mediators, Robert Sutton and Jacop Colliers, with their secretaries and dragomans. The interpreters stand and talk, all the other figures are sitting. The Venetian dragoman (Number 3) stands between Carlo Ruzzini and Jacop Colliers and gesticulates wildly in conversation with the Turkish dragoman. The engraving presumably shows the dragomanno grande Gian Rinaldo Carli, although the second Venetian dragoman, Alvise Fortis, was present in Posa-roviz.29 Dragomans appear with fur-lined caftans and fur-trimmed hats, similar to the Turkish plenipotentiaries and secretaries; the Venetian, English and Dutch diplomats and secretaries are dressed in European clothing. The dragomans in paintings by Jean-Baptiste Vanmour
(1671-1737) are in similar Turkish attire; the painter came to Constantinople with the French ambassador Charles de Ferriol in 1699 and spent his life in the Ottoman Empire. Beside other works, he executed several paintings showing the audiences of European diplomats at the Ottoman Porte. Dragomans appear in his paintings which depict the phases of the reception of the same ambassador, scenes such as ambassadorial delegations passing through the courtyards of the Topkapi Palace, dinners at the palace or the audiences with the Sultan. As two among many examples we can also mention the painting The Ambassadorial Delegation passing through the Second Courtyard of the Topkapi Palace and the Dinner at the Palace in Honour of an Ambassador, dated around 1725.30 In the first painting
29	Both of them are mentioned in the text by Bianchi (1719, 31). Bianchi reports that both of them are old and experienced.
30	Both paintings were published in Rifat, Kibris, Akkoyunlu (2005, 49, 51).
Fig. 8: Portrait of Catterina Carli, Poreč Regional Mu-seum/Zavičajni muzej Poreštine (photo: P. Vidmar). Sl. 8: Portret Catterine Carli, Pokrajinski muzej Poreč (foto: P. Vidmar).
we can see to the right the Venetian bailo, probably Francesco Gritti, who served in Constantinople between 1723 and 1726. In front of him walk two dragomans with fur lined caftans and red fur-trimmed caps. The same dragomans are depicted on the second mentioned painting. Both dragomans, one wearing a blue and the other a red caftan, stand near the ambassador and the Grand Vizier. Their red caps and single-coloured caftans are equal to the attire of both men on the Carli portraits. The same can be said for the full beards of the depicted dragomans. To conclude, we can almost certainly state that these two portraits from the Carli series also depict
dragomans. As regards the time of their execution, we can assume that Nina Kudiš Buric and Višnja Bralic were right and that these two portraits are younger than the other portraits from the Carli collection, painted in the first quarter of the 18th century, both by the same artist. (Bralic, Kudiš Buric, 2006, 366-368).31
There is also one interesting detail on these two portraits that distinguishes them from all the other Carli and Tarsia portraits. In all the other dragoman portraits the images on the signets are unidentifiable. But here we can see very clearly that these two dragomans wear signets or oval objects with a red cross potent or crutch cross in the middle and four smaller red crosses around it. Five golden crosses composed in such a manner appear in the coat of arms of Jerusalem, but red crosses form the coat of arms of the Order of Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. Pilgrims to the Holy land deemed worthy of the honour were received into the Order with an elaborate ceremonial guided by the Franciscans. One of the instructions given by the Venetian Senate to the just elected bailo Lorenzo Soranzo in 1699 may be helpful in understanding the inscription; Soranzo was instructed that after arriving in Constantinople he must extend the protection of Venice to the Fathers of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, as had been done in the past. (Setton, 1991, 410) In the same document there is also an instruction stipulating that Soranzo has to take care of the "familia ordinaria" of the bailaggio in Pera, including the dragomans and six "giovani di lingua" he has to take with him from Venice. It is possible that the bailo, Soranzo or one of his successors, sent some dragomans to the Fathers of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem with the task of securing or extending Venetian protection over them. The oval object with five red crosses on both dragoman portraits in Poreč is most probably the medallion with the cross of Jerusalem, a sign of their official journey or pilgrimage to Jerusalem or more precisely, the sign of the honour to be accepted in the Order of Holy Sepulchre during the pilgrimage, or journey.
The Jerusalem cross appears also in the portrait of Johann Paul von Kuefstein, one of the companions of Wallerstein's embassy to Constantinople, in Greillen-stein Castle in Austria.32 In the Kuefstein portrait the medallion with the Jerusalem cross hangs in the same way from one of the tiny buttons as in the Carli portraits. Kuefstein travelled with Wallerstein's embassy first to Constantinople and from there to Jerusalem.33 Some
31	Alessio Passian dates the painting in the second half of the 17th century and attributed them to a Venetian painter (Pavanello, Walcher, 2001, 179-180).
32	Johann Paul von Kuefstein was a descendent of Hans Ludwig von Kuefstein, the Imperial Ambassador in the year 1628. About his Embassy and the paintings he commissioned, cf. Mansel, 1988; Sims, 1988; Teply, 1976.
33	His pilgrimage is mentioned in the inscription on the portrait: ... im September 1699 mit / der großen kais. Bott- / schaft nach Contantinopl / in Türkey, von dannen / zum heilg. Crab nacher / Jerusalem und andre / heiig. Orten des gelobten / Landt, entlich nach / viel erlittenen Wieder- / werigkeiten und Ce- / fahr deren Seerauber / über Meer durch / Frankreich in Teutsch- / land zu Wien / ankommen. /Anno 1701... (quoted after Trauth, 2009, 258).
other companions from Wallerstein's embassy undertook the pilgrimage to Jerusalem.34 On the portrait of Siegfried Count of Kollonitz in Wallerstein Castle one can see the tattoed image of the Holy Sepulchre and the date 1700. In his tattoed hand he holds a similar medallion with the Jerusalem cross to the one in the Carli portraits and in the portrait of Johann Paul of Kuefstein. Nina Trauth identified this oval object as a container for water from the river Jordan (Trauth, 2009, 259). As the oval object hanging from the buttons of Carli dragomans are slim, they are probably not containers, but medallions, reminding the viewer that the portrayed persons visited the Holy land and were received in the Order of the Holy Sepulchre.
FEMALE PORTRAITS FROM THE CARLI COLLECTION
Both ladies from the Carli portrait series are painted very similarly, as beauties in oriental attire standing in an open loggia. The similarities can be seen in their poses, garments, in the backgrounds, and even in the choice of flowers in bunches on the table. They differ in facial features, the colour of the garments and the details of their skull-caps. One portrait lacks an inscription, the second has an inscription in the upper section: "CAT-TARINA CARLI EX FAMILIA NIGRORVM NOBILIVM GENVENSIS REPUBLICAE." They are wearing long, fine, transparent silky inner dresses or chemise (gomlek) over their baggy trousers (§alvar); in the portrait of Cattarina Carli the trousers are unseen under the long chemise; the other female figure is wearing red trousers with an embroidered pattern of small flowers.35 Both have a heavily embroidered dark jacket (gepken or yelek), reaching to the hip; the sleeves of the jacket reach to their wrists. Over the jackets they are wearing a long robe (entari), made of a heavy brocaded material with vertical lines and a floral pattern.36 The entaris of the Carli ladies are open in front; above the waist they have small jewelled buttons. The unknown lady is wearing an entari with long sleeves, which can be seen on her forearms, the sleeves of the Cattarina's entari reach only to her elbows. The skirts of the entaris are so long that they probably have to be looped up at the belt for walking. The robes are girded at the waist by belts adorned with silver and gold brooches, pearls and plenty of jewels.
Fig. 9: Portrait of a lady, Poreč Regional Museum/Za-
vičajni muzej Porestine (photo: P. Vidmar).
Sl. 9: Ženski portret, Pokrajinski muzej Poreč (foto: P.
Vidmar).
Over the entaris the ladies are wearing coats or caftans of a richly embroidered material lined with fur, as was usual in winter. Both of them are wearing huge, precious headdresses made of many embroidered scarves of different colours adorned with pearls and jewels. Nina Trauth claims that in her portrait Cattarina Carli is wearing a turban with heron feathers (sorgug), which would not have been worn by women in this form (Trauth, 2009, 65). While this may be true of the heron
34	Counts Thun, Saur and Kollonitz left for Jerusalem on 1st July 1700 from Constantinople to Jerusalem; counts Kuefstein and Dietrichstein had already left on 21st April 1700 (cf. Trauth, 2009, 256).
35	The Turkish female garments and the names for them in the 17th and 18th century have been frequently debated in the literature in the last few decades; studies have been based on travellers' literature and on garments preserved in the Topkapi Museum. Despite the large number of publications, the names of items worn by Ottoman women are often confusing. For a description of the attire of the Carli ladies the following articles and books were used: Davis, 1986, 187-207; Scarce, 1985, 221-239; Biniok, 1985, 240-270; Traut, 2009, 106-113; Erduman-gali§, 2009, 18-39.
36	The robe or gown, named entari or antari, is actually a caftan for women, hold together by an embroidered textile belt (ku§ak), which can be adorned with big metal brooches.
Fig. 10: Ladies wearing a tarpous (De Bruyn, 1700, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Wien). Sl. 10: Ženski s pokrivalom tarpous (De Bruyn, 1700, Avstrijska nacionalna knjižnica Dunaj).
feathers, the form of the turban, or skull-cap, is almost certainly not fictional since such turbans appeared in engravings in the book Reisen van Cornelis de Bruyn, a Dutch traveller and painter who visited Constantinople in 1678. His travel book was first published twenty years later, in 1698, in Dutch; the French edition was printed in 1700. (De Bruyn, 1700, 56-57, illust. 34-36) De Bruyn not only published the engravings with this type of headdress, he also extensively described it and named it tarpous. He reported that the ladies from Constantinople display magnificent style in the way they adorn
themselves. Their tarpous headdresses are tied to their heads with many embroidered scarves of different colours. Between these scarves are many jewels, the value of which change in accordance to the wealth of the woman. A large number of flowers are added to the scarves. The headdress is made in such a way that it is not spoilt if put on and taken off over a number of days. They can change the design of the tarpous at will, spending much time over it. Sometimes they find that wearing this headdress annoys them, because it is very heavy.37 We can find similar headdresses also in works
37 ... La maniéré dont s'habillent les Dames de Constantinople, représentée aux nombres 34, 35 & 36 a un air de grandeur & de magnificence tout particulier, & qui surpasse de bien loin celle des autres Dames de ces pais là. Leur tarpous ou coiffure est attachée à leur tête par quantité de mouchoirs des diverses couleurs, qui sont tout brochez d'or & d'argent, & elles y mêlent aussi de toutes fortes de Pierreries selon que chacune en a le moyen. Outre cela, elles l'ornent encore de diverses fleurs. Cette coiffure est tellement faite qu'elles pouvent la mettre sur leur tête & l'en ôter sans la deffaire, tellement qu'elles s'en peuvent servir pendant plusieurs jours, au bout des quels elles lui donnent une autre forme, telle qu'il leur plait, afin qu'il y ait toujours quelque changement à leur tête, à quoi elle emploient un temps considerable. Cette coiffure est si pesante à cause qu'elle est fort ample, qu'elles s'ennuyent quelque fois de la porter... (quoted after De Bruyn, 1700, 56-57).
of art from the first half and mid-18th century. A lady with the same type of headdress is shown in the painting entitled Enjoying coffee or Lady drinking coffee inspired by Jean Baptist Vanmour, painter unknown.38 Turkish literature provides a different opinion on her headdress; perhaps it should not be considered as painted after a living model but as a copy after De Bruyn engravings (Rifat, Kibris, Akkoyunlu, 2005, 106), or, indeed, even as a fantasy: "In contrast with the realistic depiction of her jewellery and clothing, the headgear is curiously exaggerated. Earlier examples of similarly fantastic and exaggerated headgear also suggest that Europeans occasionally mixed observation with imagination." (Artan in Olger, Qagman, 2004, 269) Artan does not explain which earlier examples she had in mind, but we can assume that she means De Bruyn's engravings. Comparison of other De Bruyn engravings, for example that of the women of the seraglio, with a number of examples of other European and Turkish paintings of the seraglio women, shows that the Bruyn is quite an accurate and reliable artist as regards garments and the headgear of the Ottoman women.39 We may conclude that De Bruyn did not invent the description and the images of the tarpous and that this type of headdress really did exist in Constantinople around 1678 when De Bruyn visited the Ottoman capital.
Not only the headdresses, but the whole attire of the Carli women is similar to De Bruyn's engraving of a lady from Constantinople in the same book. The lady stands in an indefinite interior, marked with a pilaster on the right. She is wearing baggy trousers, a white chemise, a medium sleeved short jacket and a lined robe worn over them. The robe, fastened by a decorated belt is very long, so she has looped it up at the belt. Her ermine lined coat is worn only over the right shoulder. She is wearing a tarpous adorned with jewels in flower form, with pearls and natural flowers. With her right hand she holds a veil with an embroidered edge, while her left hand is pulling up her robe.40
What is striking about the Carli ladies is the great quantity of jewellery they are wearing in the portraits. Cattarina Carli has a pearl necklace with a hanging of
three bigger pearls, two bracelets with four rows of pearls, another two bracelets adorned with jewels, a ring, ear-rings with large hanging jewels, a golden chain with a big brooch also adorned with jewels, a great quantity of pearls and jewels on her belt and on the headgear, where one can see a big jewelled brooch above her forehead, an egret and two or three rows of pearls. The other lady is not wearing a necklace and a jewelled egret, but all the other items are as precious as Cattarina's or even more, if we take into consideration all the rubies she has on her brooches, ear-rings and bracelets. The jewellery is probably depicted not only to stress the wealth of the Carli ladies but also to show that they had adopted Turkish custom. Jewels were worn in great quantities by Turkish women because they constituted their principal wealth. Davis mentions, that "Women employ all their ascendency over the men to obtain jewels of as a great value as possible, because they are always left in peaceable possession of them when they lose their husbands: nay, they have no other resource, when the effects of their families are confiscated by the sultan, which is no uncommon circumstance with persons in office" (Davis, 1985, 190-191).
The ladies stand in a loggia marked off by a balustrade and a heavy curtain with gold tassels. To the left are tables, covered with tablecloths of the same fabric as the curtains. On the tables we can see a book and a bunch of flowers. The book is more accurately painted on the portrait of Cattarina Carli. The covers are adorned with metal, probably golden plates and the book has gilt edges. The bunch of flowers on the portrait of Cattarina Carli consists of a jasmine or a white lily, a white and a yellow flowering daffodil, a bluish bindweed, a stripped tulip, a pink rose, a yellowish and a red tulip.41 The flower in the lowest section of the bunch is very likely another tulip or a single-flower peony with a large central boss of yellow stamens. Cattarina holds a pink rose in her hand. The bunch on the other portrait consists of the same sorts of flowers, however the tulips are more accurately depicted here, whereas all the other sorts, jasmine or lily, daffodils, bindweed and the central rose are painted with less accurate botanical details. Bunches
38	The painting is kept in the private Sevgi Gonul Collection in Istanbul (cf. Rifat, Kibris, Akkoyunlu, 2005, 107; Artan, Olçer, Çagman, 2004, 269).
39	... Les Dames du Serrail du Grand Seigneur, desquelles on m'a fourni quelques desseins, & que je donné aussi No 37 sont diversement habilées, quelques unes ont sul la tête un Kalpak ou bonnet fourré, d'autres une grande platine ronde à la maniere de juifves, excepté que sur le front il va de bas en haut & qu'il a aux oreilles il y a de gros bouquets de plumes noires qui leur viennent pendre par devant sur le fein. Quelques unes ont la tête liée d'un Tarpous ou bonnet fait de plusieurs mouchoirs de differentes couleurs, brodet d'or & d'argent, à quoi elle ajoutent toute forte de bijoux, l'on fait expres à ce dessein plusieurs petites fleurs d'or en maniere de bouquets, & au melieu de chaque fleur on y met quelques pierreries. Il y en a aussi qui y mettent des fleurs naturelles comme de oeillets & semblandes... (quoted after De Bruyn, 1700, 57).
40	De Bruyn described the garments much more briefly than the headdress: ... L'habit blanc qu'elles portent dehors est bordé aux extremitez de galons & de franges d'or, quond ce sont des personnes de distinction. En hyver elles on tune fourrure à leur robe, comme les hommes en portent à leur habit... (De Bruyn, 1700, 56-57).
41	For the identification of depicted flowers I would like to thank Dr. Tanja Simonic and Dr. Mitja Kaligaric.
Fig. 11: Lady from Constantinople (De Bruyn, 1700,
Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Wien). Sl. 11: Ženska iz Konstantinopla (De Bruyn, 1700, Avstrijska nacionalna knjižnica Dunaj).
of flowers reveal that the portraits were painted by two different painters, but not independent from each other. The painters, who were not specialists for flower still lives, may have used the same (graphic) source. The prevailing tulips and daffodils show, again because of their Turkish origin, the connections of the Carli ladies to the Orient. The flower mentioned previously, which is difficult to identify, is most likely a tulip, since the same flower is depicted in the bouquet on the engraving Dame Grecque, dans son Apartement, by Gérard-Jean-Baptiste Scotin the Elder after Jean Baptiste Vanmour, showing a Greek lady from Constantinople and published in Recueil Ferriol 1714/1715.42 The arrangement of flowers differs too much for the engraving to be con-
sidered as the source for the Carli painter, but in the eyes of their European contemporaries this particular flower was obviously connected with the Orient.
A white enclosure with marble sculptures in niches appears in the background to the right of the ivy-clad balustrades. One painting is slightly damaged in this section, but in the portrait of Cattarina Carli one can recognise the sculpture of the goddess Diana with the bow. Gardens with cypresses are painted behind the enclosure. The cypresses, characteristic not only of Turkey but also of the upper Adriatic as part of Mediterranean, are more accurately painted in the portrait of the unknown Carli lady.
42 For recent material on the influence of Recueil Ferriol on portraits of Europeans in Oriental attire: Trauth, 2009, 97-102.
Both ladies look directly at the viewer; the position of their left hands signifies their resoluteness. Their attire expresses not only that they have spent their lives in the Ottoman Empire, but also their considerable wealth. The setting is European, but the choice of flowers reminds the viewer of the Orient. Books are probably added to signify the education of the sitters, the sculptured ancient goddess may reveal the significance of ancient Greek-Roman culture for the then upper-class society.
The portraits of the Carli ladies raise a number of questions. Were they painted after the living models or as a copy after De Bruyn's engravings? Were they painted at the same time or are the similarities in garments, pose and background a consequence of the fact that one portrait served as a model for the other? The question of the identity of one of the ladies is still also unresolved.
Taking into consideration that interpreters' wives spent most of their lives in Constantinople and were dressed alla turca just as their husbands were, we may assume that the painted garments and headdresses are not a fantasy, but were really in the possession of the Carli ladies. There was no need for the painter to copy the De Bruyn engravings, instead he could have painted the portraits after living models when the ladies visited Koper or Venice.
The identity of one of the woman seems to be certain, as the inscription on the painting states she is Cat-tarina Carli. The inscriptions on her portrait and on that of Gian Rinaldo Carli were written by the same hand. Caprin, in 1907, stated that this painting is a pendant to the portrait of Gian Rinaldo Carli and concluded that Cattarina was his wife (Caprin, 1907, 221). Mario In-felise presumed that Gian Rinaldo Carli and Cattarina Negri of Genuese noble origin married in Constantinople (Infelise, 1996, 191). But who is the second lady? She could not have appeared alone in the Carli portrait gallery, a portrait of her husband must also be there. It may be lost, but if we compare the painting with the other paintings in Porec, in my opinion the most probable portrait of her husband is the portrait of the dragoman dating from 168(6): the above-identified Tomasso Tarsia. These two paintings can be considered as pendants: the sitters are slightly turned to each other with their bodies, the position of his right hand corresponds with the position of her left hand, the open loggia in which they are standing and the background are symmetrically composed. They stand on a paved floor, their hands rest on tables with dark green tablecloths with golden fringed rims; behind the sitters are a stone balustrade and a garden with cypresses. The bunch of flowers and the book on the lady's table is balanced with dictionaries and documents, which appear on the dragoman's table. Proof that the portraits are really pendants, painted simultaneously by the same painter, can also be found in the balanced use of the colour red and the de-
tails such as the symmetrical depiction of cypresses and the small flower pattern on red fabric, which appears on the lady's baggy trousers and on the cushion on the table in the male portrait. Comparison with the De Bruyn engravings leads us to believe that the dating of the lady's portrait at around 1686 is not too early and can be proven on the basis of her garments. The lady in the portrait is in my opinion the wife of Tomasso Tarsia; like her husband's portrait, her portrait may also have been a gift from the Tarsias to the palazzo Carli.
The painter of the Cattarina Carli portrait presumably used the portrait of the wife of Tomasso Tarsia as a source for the pose of the sitter and the background, but probably painted her facial features, garments and headdress as they were in reality. The patterns of the fabric and their colour differ from the garments of Tarsia's wife, Cattarina is wearing a necklace, her jewellery and tarpous are also slightly different and the heron features are, as already stated, probably imagined. It is curious that the painter of Cattarina's portrait relied so firmly on the older portrait, but changed the setting in the portrait of her husband Gian Rinaldo, in comparison with Tomasso Tarsia's portrait, completely. This can only be explained as a request by the patron.
CONCLUSION
The eight portraits of dragomans and their wives dressed alla turca from the bequest of the Carli counts in Poreč Regional Museum are a rare example of 17th and 18th century portraits of Europeans in Turkish attire who did not wear this kind of garment as a kind of social or political fancy dress, but as everyday clothing in Constantinople. There is no evidence that they wore their Turkish garments on the streets of Koper and Venice or to sit for their portraits in order to leave an impression, a lasting remembrance of their profession. Well considered poses and gestures depict resolute dragomans practising an important, well-paid and dangerous occupation. The painters focused on the attributes signifying their profession and depicted with great accuracy the details of their rich clothing. This is especially true of the portraits of interpreters' wives, who appear as pale-skinned beauties in clothing of rich material and abundantly adorned with jewellery. The details such as books and ancient sculpture stress their education and cultural refinement. Most likely the sitters were painted by Venetian painters when they visited their home town. The series came into existence gradually, presumably partly as a gift to the related Tarsia family and partly to celebrate their own family members engaged as Venetian dragomans on the Ottoman Porte. The series carries huge value in documenting the attire of dragomans and their wives and the details shown in the portraits, such as the dictionaries of the languages they have mastered and medallions reminding the viewer that some of them
attended the pilgrimage to the Holy land. The high artistic quality of the portraits places them within the most prized artistic legacy of baroque portraiture in Slovenia
and we can only hope that archive research, above all in the Carli archives preserved in the Biblioteca Marciana in Venice, will reveal the names of their artists.43
PORTRETI IZ ZAPUŠČINE GROFOV CARLIJEV V POREČU IN PORTRETI SREDNJEEVROPSKIH ODPOSLANCEV NA OSMANSKO PORTO
Polona VIDMAR
Univerza v Mariboru, Filozofska fakulteta, SI-2000 Maribor, Slomškov trg 15 e-mail: polona.vidmar@uni-mb.si
POVZETEK
V poreškem muzeju (Zavičajni muzej Poreštine) je ohranjenih enajst portretov grofov Carlijev in naslikano družinsko drevo. Slike izvirajo iz palače grofov Carlijev v Kopru. Sest moških in dve ženski članici družine so upodobljeni v osmanski noši. Kakor člani koprskih družin Bruti, Borisi in Tarsia, so bili tudi Carliji v 17. in zgodnjem 18. stoletju uradni prevajalci, dragomani, v službi Beneške republike na osmanski Porti. Portretom je bilo posvečene premalo umetnostnozgodovinske pozornosti, kar je najbrž posledica prenosa iz okolja, v katerem so nastali. V prispevku je s kulturnozgodovinskega vidika opredeljena noša portretirancev, s primerjavo s sorodnimi serijami portretov ter s sočasnimi upodobitvami uradnih prevajalcev in evropskih odposlancev na osmansko Porto pa so razloženi tudi detajli, ki lahko pomagajo pri identifikaciji upodobljenih oseb. Z vidika noše so tudi portretiranci, ki so bili doslej opredeljeni kot dostojanstveniki, identificirani kot dragomani. Prispevek se ukvarja tudi identifikacijo velikega dragomana in svetovalca Leopolda I. (v napisu opredeljenega kot "primarius interpres" in "consiliarivs" cesarja Leopolda I.) kot člana koprske rodbine Tarsia.
Portreti Carlijev v turški noši so nastali v času njihovega bivanja v Kopru ali Benetkah kot delo zahodnih (beneških) portretistov za zahodno (koprsko) občinstvo. Portretiranci so postavljeni v običajno shemo zahodnoevropskega baročnega plemiškega portreta z mizo, zastorom in stebrom v ozadju, njihova turška oblačila so upodobljena z akribično natančnostjo in poudarkom na dragocenih materialih in nakitu. Na nekaterih moških portretih so prikazani atributi prevajalskega poklica, predvsem slovarji, listine in pečati. Dva izmed portretirancev sta med opravljanjem svojega poklica obiskala tudi Jeruzalem in bila sprejeta v Red Svetega groba v Jeruzalemu, saj nosita medaljone z upodobitvijo redovnega znaka. Detajli na obeh ženskih portretih, knjige, kip antične boginje, kažejo na njuno izobraženost in kultiviranost, cvetje orientalskega izvora v vazah pa dodatno osvetljuje njuno bivanje na Vzhodu. Umetelno oblikovani in okrašeni pokrivali žensk se ujemata z opisi pokrival, ki so jih nosile ženske v Kon-stantinoplu leta 1678, ko je to mesto obiskal nizozemski popotnik Cornelis De Bruyn. Njegov ilustrirani potopis je bil v nizozemskem jeziku objavljen leta 1698 in v francoskem leta 1700.
Z napisi so identificirani tričetrtinski portret Gian Rinalda Carlija (1679), njegov celopostavni portret, naslikan približno dvajset let kasneje ter portret njegove soproge Caterine Carli, ki je pendant moževega celopostavnega portreta. Drugi portretiranci niso zanesljivo identificirani. Kakor dokazujejo primerjave s sočasnimi grafičnimi in slikarskimi upodobitvami dragomanov, predvsem dela Alessandra della Via in Jeana Baptista Vanmourja sta tudi na dveh portretih Carlijev, ki ne kažeta atributov prevajalskega poklica in sta bila doslej opredeljena kot dostojanstvenika oziroma beneška veleposlanika, upodobljena prevajalca. Poskus identifikacije enega izmed portretirancev kot Tommasa Tarsio iz sorodstveno povezane koprske družine je argumentiran z napisom, v katerem sta navedena njegova visoka funkcija velikega dragomana in letnica 168(6); to službo je Tommaso Tarsia opravljal v letih od 1680 do 1716.
43 Our colleague Edvilijo Gardina from Koper Regional Museum has already researched and collected a great deal of archive material dealing with this question. I would like to thank our respected colleague for his suggestions in the preparation of this paper.
Portreti Carlijev v nosi alla turca iz Kopra so redek primer portretov Evropejcev, ki se v turski nosi niso dali naslikati zaradi političnih ali socialnih podtonov, ki jih je taksna nosa zbujala pri sočasnem občinstvu, temveč, ker so bila to njihova oblačila med opravljanjem cenjenega, vendar velikokrat nevarnega poklica v Konstantinoplu. Podobno kakor serija portretov dragomanov koprske družine Tarsia, so bili tudi ti portreti namenjeni predvsem poveličevanju svoje družine in ohranjanju spomina na pomembne prednike.
Ključne besede: grofje Carliji, dragomani, baročno slikarstvo
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