User:Annamhp/Hurrem Sultan

Legacy
Hurrem Haseki Sultan, or Roxelana, is well-known both in modern Turkey and in the West, and is the subject of many artistic works. In 1561, three years after Hurrem's death, the French author Gabriel Bounin wrote a tragedy titled La Soltane. This tragedy marks the first time the Ottomans were introduced on stage in France. She has inspired paintings, musical works (including Joseph Haydn's Symphony No. 63), an opera by Denys Sichynsky, a ballet, plays, and several novels written mainly in Russian and Ukrainian, but also in English, French, German and Polish.

In early modern Spain, she appears or is alluded to in works by Quevedo and other writers as well as in a number of plays by Lope de Vega. In a play entitled The Holy League, Titian appears on stage at the Venetian Senate, and stating that he has just come from visiting the Sultan, displays his painting of Sultana Rossa or Roxelana.

In 2007, Muslims in Mariupol, a port city since 1922 in Ukraine opened a mosque to honour Roxelana.

In the 2003 TV miniseries, Hürrem Sultan, she was played by Turkish actress and singer Gülben Ergen. In the 2011–2014 TV series Muhteşem Yüzyıl, Hurrem Sultan is portrayed by Turkish-German actress Meryem Uzerli from season one to season three and at the series' last season she is portrayed by Turkish actress Vahide Perçin.

In 2019, mention of the Russian origin of Hurrem Sultan was removed from the visitor panel near her tomb at the Süleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul at the request of the Ukrainian Embassy in Turkey.

Depictions of Roxelana in European Art
Despite the fact that male European artists were denied access to Hurrem in the Harem, there are many Renaissance paintings of the famous sultana. Scholars thus agree that European artists created a visual identity for Ottoman women that was largely imagined. Artists Titian, Melchior Lorich, and Sebald Beham were all influential in creating a visual representation of Roxelana. Images of the chief consort emphasized her beauty and wealth, and she is almost always depicted with elaborate headwear.

The Venetian painter Titian is reputed to have painted Hurrem Sultan in 1550. Although he never visited Istanbul, he either imagined her appearance or had a sketch of her. In a letter to Philip II of Spain, the painter claims to have sent him a copy of this "Queen of Persia" in 1552. The Ringling Museum in Sarasota, Florida, purchased the original or a copy around 1930. Titian's painting of Roxelana is very similar to his portrait of her daughter, Mihrimah Sultan.