The use of space in ottoman miniature paintings: The case of Matrakçi Nasuh

Although many works of art such as photographs, stamps, engravings and paintings are accepted as documents in scientific researches and studies carried out all over the world, there is no awareness on the values of miniatures as documents. In the thesis study; by stating this deficiency, the reasons for not having miniatures in a way that they would be qualified as documents in architecture, city planning, sustainable architectural works, restoration works were tried to be examined, and examples were studied comparatively with the proposed methods. In the first part of the thesis, the subject of the study is explained, and the aim and the method of the thesis are described. The importance of theoretical knowledge on book arts and depiction techniques is emphasized for the artistic analyses of miniatures. Since miniatures are works that have been practiced in different periods with different techniques, in this thesis study, it was planned to make examinations on a selected sample work, and a work which has been practiced in 16th century was chosen as a sample. Among the miniature works of that period, the work closest to actual documentation was selected as the work titled "Beyan-ı Menazil-i Sefer-i Irakeyn-i Sultan Süleyman Han" by Matrakçı Nasuh, and since it was not possible to study the original work, the research was conducted on published facsimiles. The first facsimile of the work was published by Hüseyin G. Yurdaydın in 1976 and the second edition was published in 2015 by Prof. Dr. Nurhan Atasoy under the name of "Beyan-I Menazil- Sefer-İ Irakeyn Matrakçı Nasuh". After reviewing both books, the second edition was chosen for the thesis, which has better print quality due to the developing digital technology over the years and includes broader analyses and interpretation than the first facsimile. The name of the work examined is briefly referred to as "Menazilname" in the selected publication. Therefore, in this thesis, which aims to document subjects such as the preservation and the functional continuation of structures and city plans along with their characteristics and their effects on the current urban settlement plans through miniatures, the name of the work is generally used as 'Menazilname'. In the second part of the thesis; the period, the artist and his works are summarized within the context of the definition of miniature art and the artistic features of the work are examined. In the third part of the thesis; firstly, the techniques, design programs and application drawing programs used by Matrakçı Nasuh while working on the selected work, "Menazilname", were examined with examples. In each miniature, detailed analyses of the area, structure and space was carried out, and texture material and decoration details were examined. The Galata miniature was chosen as an example and the structures still present on the foil were examined comparatively with examples. In the conclusion section; each description of nature, including the structures, cities and even plants and animals in the miniatures, constitute documents separately for different scientific fields. Through the examples we have examined, the fact that miniatures are works documenting life in certain periods in addition to their artistic values bearing documentary characteristics shows that they contain data for architectural projects. It is necessary to use miniatures together with works such as photographs and stamps and to increase their recognition by emphasizing their documentary qualities.