Allegorie op Ottomaanse Rijk 1783

This etching, Allegorie op Ottomaanse Rijk, was crafted by Simon Fokke around 1743. It presents a tightly organized composition, divided horizontally into distinct registers that blend allegory with historical narrative. Below, text is framed by scenes of Ottoman life. Above this, the Sultan stands prominently atop a plinth as the central vertical axis, dividing the landscape into mirroring halves of trees and hills. His posture and the arrangement of figures around him invite a semiotic reading of power and submission, complicated by the map he holds, which hints at territorial ambitions. The sky is activated by an angel carrying a banner, who may represent a call to religious authority. Fokke’s use of line—from the dense hatching of the clouds to the minute detailing of the figures—creates a visual hierarchy that compels us to question the values and systems of representation at play in depictions of empire.