The Venetian painter Andrea Celesti depicted the triumph of General Tamerlane over Sultan Bayazet in this monumental painting. The historical background is the Battle of Ankara in 1402, in which the army of the Turco-Mongol emir Tamerlane (Timur Lenk or Timur-i Lang) defeated the troops of the Ottoman sultan ‘Bayezit I’. During the battle, the sultan was captured—he died in captivity. This defeat of the Ottoman Empire is considered one of the most serious in its history. In the 17th and early 18th centuries, the event provided material for a series of plays and operas. The story spread perhaps through the imaginatively embellished musical drama by Giulio Cesare Corradi Il gran Tamerlano (The Great Tamerlane), which was performed in Venice in 1689.1 Various motifs from the piece can be found in Celesti’s painting. He took up Corradi’s description of the triumphal procession to the victorious Tamerlane, who is sitting on a throne; as well as the ‘amusing sight’ offered by Bayazet in the iron cage that the Sultan actually had intended for Tamerlane.2 Furious, Bayazet threatens the emir because he humiliates him by allowing him to be served by his half-naked wife Zelida.3 The figure behind Zelida is probably Emireno, Tamerlane’s son, with a turban and a pointed attachment. Emireno reaches for his cloak to protect his beloved Zelida from prying eyes. Celesti tries to give as diverse a picture as possible of the various The Triumph of General Tamerlane Fig. 1 Andrea Celesti The imprisoned Sultan Bayazet before Tamerlane around 1700, oil on canvas, 369×800 cm SPSG, GK I 5033, Potsdam, New Palace
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