Giuseppe Bonito: The Turkish Embassy in Naples (1741)

(Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain)

A painting by the Italian artist Giuseppe Bonito (1707-1789). After centuries of war between both states is 1741 the treaty of Peace, Trade and Navigation was settled between the Ottoman empire and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and was marked by an exchange of gifts. The Ottoman sultan Mahmud I sent Hagi Hussein Effendi and his entourage on an embassy to the Neapolitan court with a number of gifts for king Charles III of Spain (who ruled Naples as Charles VII). Hagi Hussein Effendi arrived in Messina on 7 July 1741. His subsequent stay in Naples and activities were documented in the 'Report on the reception of Hagi Hussein Effendi, Extraordinary Ambassador of the Sublime Porte and on the public audience that he had with the Lord Our King on 18 September 1741'. The painting shows the Ottoman ambassador Hagi Hussein Effendi seated in the center with members of his entourage arranged in a circle around him, their names are not known. Painting from 1741.