Abd-ul-Mejid (1823-1861), Sultan of Turkey

Wilkie's portrait of Abd-ul-Mejid, Sultan of Turkey of 1840 depicts the Ottoman ruler who was attempting to modernize the Empire through the Tanzimat reforms that would gradually transform Ottoman governance throughout his reign. Wilkie painted the Sultan during his Near Eastern journey — the same journey that produced his portrait of Muhammad Ali of Egypt — and the commission represented an extraordinary extension of his practice into the diplomatic portraiture of non-European rulers. The portrait documents the British painting tradition's engagement with the political complexity of the Ottoman world.

Wilkie renders the young sultan with the broad, expressive brushwork of his final period. The Orientalist setting and the warm palette reflect his engagement with Middle Eastern subjects during his last journey.