An intellectual history of late Ottoman painting: Mekteb-i Harbiye and the development of realism

This study aims to examine how military painters' educational and intellectual backgrounds who graduated from Mekteb-i Harbiye (the Imperial Military Academy) opened in 1834 shaped their approach to painting. I am trying to explain the role of painting lessons, the sources they feed on, and Harbiye's view of the painting by questioning the factors that are effective in the preferences of the military painters, who mostly painted landscapes and still-lifes in the rich visual culture of the nineteenth century. I evaluate the courses related to modern painting from the curricula between 1845 to 1877 within the scope of science and functionality that prevailed after the Tanzimat (Reorganization) period (1839-1876). In this context, the study attempts to explain the dynamics in which the Ottoman Muslim population internalized modern painting and the realist attitude; on the other hand, it emphasizes that modern painting is seen as a tool in the modernization policy rather than an artistic activity in Harbiye. Keywords: Harbiye, military painters, realism, landscape, still life, aniconism, modernization, functionality, knowledge production