roman-empire

The Late Ottoman court life was entirely modernized, and the practical cultural legacy ranging from the Westernized fine arts were flourishing at unprecendented levels. 

The Palace was actively supporting the artists, and the like, sending them over to esp. Paris. Late Ottoman period and Early Republican times are still feeling like those times preceding the discovery of Troy in Dardanelles.

The reason that the local production teams play with earlier phases of the Empire is mainly due to the fact they can just make up pretentious realities rather than focusing on the fact that the Sultan's perceived themselves as the descendants of the Eastern Roman Empire (Sultan-ı Rûm [The Sultan of Rome—still the European side of Istanbul and the rest in the Eastern Thrace is called Rumeli, that is, the Roman Province).

As I was today strolling through the National Museum of Painting down my hood within the Dolmabahçe Palace, I kind of understood why Aivazovsky like to serve as the imperial painter.