The Ottoman Authority in Osman Hamdi Bey’s “Two Young Girls Visiting a Tomb”: A Bourdieusian Analysis

Abstract

This study aims to sociologically examine how Osman Hamdi Bey’s painting “Türbe Ziyaretinde İki Genç Kız” (1908) represents the splendor and symbolic power of the Ottoman Empire. The central research question is: How does this work, by mobilizing cultural and symbolic capital, contribute to the reproduction of Ottoman identity while simultaneously consolidating the artist’s position in the transforming artistic field? The study employs Pierre Bourdieu’s field theory, particularly the concepts of field, habitus, and capital conversion, as its theoretical framework. The methodology is based on visual analysis grounded in Bourdieu’s sociology of art The sacred space (Yeşil Türbe), ritual objects (incense burner, candlestick, lectern, carpet), and female figures are analyzed as data to reveal the social logic underlying the production of symbolic power and cultural legitimation. The representation of power unfolds across three interconnected levels: (1) The sacred space as symbolic capital legitimizing political-religious authority; (2) The museum-like arrangement of ritual objects as a means of converting the artist’s cultural capital into symbolic capital; (3) The dual representation of women, which exposes the artist’s intercultural habitus and his strategy toward dual audiences (Ottoman and European).“Türbe Ziyaretinde İki Genç Kız” can be interpreted as a strategic action within the late Ottoman cultural field. Osman Hamdi Bey, by blending Eastern tradition with Western visual language, reconstructs the empire’s grandeur and establishes himself as a cultural mediator. The originality of this study lies in its systematic application of Bourdieu’s tripartite conceptual framework to demonstrate the simultaneous process of transforming cultural capital into symbolic power.