Ottoman art pioneer’s rare portrait of wife heads to auction for $1.5 mln
ISTANBUL

A rarely seen portrait of Osman Hamdi Bey’s wife, painted by the pioneering Turkish artist, has been put up for sale by an auction house with an estimated value of $1.5 million.
The oil-on-canvas work, titled “Portrait of Naile Hanım,” was painted in the 1880s and measures 98 by 68 centimeters. Unlike Hamdi Bey’s renowned orientalist works, the portrait is strikingly Western in style, reflecting no Eastern motifs.
The painting depicts his wife, Naile Hanım, born Marie Palyart in France, who became his second spouse. It remained within the family for decades, hanging prominently in the home of their granddaughter Cenan Sarç until it was first auctioned in 1995.
Art historians describe "Portrait of Naile Hanım" as both a depiction of love and an artistic manifesto. They note that Hamdi Bey portrayed his wife in a manner unusual for his time — elegant, thoughtful and with a distinct sense of individuality — at a period when women’s visibility in public life was limited.
Maya Portakal Bitargil, the auctioneer behind the sale, called the piece, “one of the most intimate pieces of Hamdi Bey’s legacy.”
Beyond his mastery of painting, Osman Hamdi Bey was also an archaeologist, museum founder and pioneer of art education in the Ottoman Empire.
Experts say that the "Portrait of Naile Hanım" embodies Hamdi Bey's lifelong synthesis of East and West, placing the woman he loved at its very center.