Portrait Of Mihrimah, Daughter Of Ottoman Sultan Suleiman The “magnificent”

Oil on canvas 74 x 62 cm Princess Mihrimah (1522-1578) is the daughter of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent (1494-1566), ruler of the Ottoman Empire, and his wife Roxelane (Hürrem Sultan), considered a figure of the supremacy of women within the Ottoman dynasty. Roxolane (1505-1558), born in Ruthenia on the territory of present-day Ukraine, became the legal wife of the sultan, gave birth to five children including Princess Mihrimah. The latter, born in 1522, in turn became the very influential Ottoman sultana. She played an active role in politics, both as advisor to her father and brother, head of the imperial harem (during the reign of Selim II 1566–1574) and at foreign courts. She married the future vizier Rüstem Pasha. Princess Mihrimah was the only child of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent to be buried in her father's tomb in the Süleymaniye Mosque complex, Istanbul. Two mosques bear his name; the first in Usküdar and the second in Edinerkapi, Istanbul. According to Vasari, Titian was invited to paint portraits of Suleiman's favorite wife and his daughter Cameria (Mihrimah), around 1552-1560. There are several versions from Titian's workshop of this lost portrait. Our painting is one of many paintings based on that of Titian, representing Mihrimah in the guise of Saint Catherine. Other portraits of Cameria are kept in Florence (Galleria degli Uffizi), in Majorca (Jakober Foundation), in Lacock (National Trust) and in Poland (Mazovian Museum in Plock).