Link: Sanat tarihimizi yaşatan hekim: Süheyl Ünver

Prof. Dr. Semavi Eyice

We must not fail to recall Süheyl Ünver’s experiment suggesting that the actual portraits of figures depicted in miniature paintings could be obtained through enlargement.

Süheyl Ünver, who passed away on February 14, 1986, was primarily a physician, yet he was also one of the distinguished scholars of our history thanks to the works he produced in traditional arts and the hundreds of articles he wrote on Turkish art history.

Ahmed Süheyl was born on February 17, 1898, in Istanbul’s Haseki neighborhood. His father, Mustafa Enver Bey, was originally from Tırnova, Bulgaria, and served as Director of Communications in the Ministry of Post and Telegraph during the reign of Sultan Abdulhamid II. His mother, Safiye Rukiye Hanım, was the daughter of the famous 19th-century calligrapher Mehmed Şevki Efendi. Young Süheyl grew up in this culturally rich historical district of Istanbul. After the Surname Law was passed, he adopted the surname “Ünver,” a modified form of his father's name “Enver.”

He completed his higher education at the Faculty of Medicine and received his diploma in 1915, during World War I. Despite being trained as a physician, he showed great interest in calligraphy from a young age and took lessons from leading masters of that time to enhance his skills. In fact, he received his diploma as a calligrapher in 1923 from the Medresetü’l-Hattâtîn (later Istanbul University Central Library), founded in Bayezid.

Ünver, who also had a passion for drawing, met Hoca Ali Rıza Bey of Üsküdar during the same years. Ali Rıza Bey was known for his charcoal sketches that exquisitely preserved the features of old Istanbul and its architectural treasures. Although Ünver produced many drawings under his teacher’s influence, he admittedly never reached his teacher’s mastery with charcoal.

While engaging in traditional Turkish arts and maintaining ties with Sufi circles, he never abandoned his medical profession. With the help of one of the leading figures in Turkish medicine, Prof. Akil Muhtar (1878–1949), he went to France to specialize and worked as an assistant under Marcel Labbe at Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris.

While improving his medical knowledge in Paris, he spent his free time researching Turkish art in museums and the Bibliothèque Nationale. His stay in Paris lasted until 1929, after which he returned to Istanbul and began working at the Faculty of Medicine in Istanbul Dârülfünunu (now Istanbul University) in 1930. Following the University Reform of 1933, he became a lecturer in the fields of Medical History and Deontology (the discipline that teaches how physicians should approach patients psychologically).

Miniature and Illumination (Tezhip)

While working at Istanbul University, Ünver also published various studies, both large and small, about the history of Istanbul and Turkish culture. He launched a journal titled Archives of Turkish Medical History as the publication of the institute he founded, featuring articles on Turkish medical history, hospitals, and notable physicians. The journal published 22 issues.

Alongside his lectures in Deontology, he also developed the museum on the first floor of the Institute of Medical History. This museum housed an archive, portraits of many old physicians, and copies of their works in the field.

For his tireless efforts, Ünver was eventually awarded the title of Ordinaryüs (Professor of the highest rank), though it took considerable time for this title to be officially approved. Once it was, he thanked his well-wishers by sending them a printed, illuminated design featuring a stork.

He had a close friendship with Tahsin Öz, Director of the Topkapı Palace. Öz even allocated a room in the palace for him. Every Tuesday, Ünver would teach the art of Turkish illumination (tezhip) to students interested in traditional arts, most of whom were young women.

Learning illumination involved hands-on practice as well as mastering technical intricacies—such as preparing paints and applying gold leaf. Thanks to Ünver’s persistent efforts, the nearly extinct art of Turkish illumination managed to survive a little longer.

Artistic Vision and Legacy

One cannot forget Ünver’s experiment where he attempted to reconstruct realistic portraits from figures in miniatures by enlarging them.

He also researched Ottoman-era Turkish painting and published his findings in book form. For instance, the miniature master Levnî and his works became known largely thanks to Ünver’s studies.

Another of Ünver’s passions was documenting noteworthy features of the places he visited in neatly arranged notebooks. These notebooks were like manuscripts, with framed pages containing his notes, sketches, diagrams, sometimes photographs, and even ephemera such as tickets or candy wrappers.

He was deeply committed to preserving the vanishing historical character of Istanbul through his art. From age 18 until his death, he never ceased sketching. On the back of a postcard of Beyazid Square, he once wrote:
“Is it not worthwhile to bring back—even if only through drawings—the atmosphere of these places as it was in my grandfather’s time?”