Portrait: Calligrapher İsmail Hakkı Altunbezer. Part 2
The Sequel to the life of an illuminator, painter, and especially one of the most notable masters of jali thuluth, diwani, and jali diwani seen in the history of calligraphy.
This post is the second part of the life of İsmail Hakkı Altunbezer. To access the first part, please see the first part here:
Personal Life
Married in 1307 to his wife Sermelek at the age of 17, İsmâil Hakkı Bey had two daughters. They had three daughters named Muazzez, Meziyet and Mualla. Sermelek Hanım, who was known as the "Lady of the Palace" because she received a palace education, was a meticulous, understanding and tolerant lady. His mother is Saide Hanım, the daughter of the Minister of Service, Hurşid Bey.
Hakkı Bey passed away on Friday, 19 July 1946, in his house in Üsküdar, Istanbul. He was buried in Karacaahmet Cemetery after the prayer performed in Üsküdar Selimiye Mosque the next day. His student and a fellow calligrapher Necmeddin Okyay wrote the tomb inscription in the Nastaliq script.
His Legacy & Students
İsmail Hakkı Efendi, who has the habit of examining the works of the former calligraphers with significant intensification, tried to preserve the works he acquired from a young age. His collection is approximately 400 pieces of calligraphers he loved and preferred.
Among his students in Medresetu'l-Hattâtîn, Halim Özyazıcı, and Mâcid Ayral have contributed immensely to the art of calligraphy. The thousands of tughras that İsmail Hakkı Bey wrote for proclamations, warrants, and manuscripts in the Divan-ı Hümayun, and the known celi thuluth works apart from the plates and stanzas in museums and private collections: Üsküdar Selimiye, Edirnekapı Mihrimah Sultan, Zeynep Sultan, Abdi Çelebi, the dome of Üsküdar Semsi Pasha Mosque, Afyon Gedik Ahmed Pasha Mosque window pediments and calligraphy panels, Eskişehir, Bebek, Bakırköy, Kamer Hatun, Beyoğlu Ağa mosques, and Mahmud Şevket Pasha Tomb bear his jali thuluth works still to this day. He wrote the articles of the Lausanne Treaty, Constitutional and Republican period coins, ornaments, and the last Kaaba cover of the Ottoman period.
Although he does not have as many works as writing in the field of painting, he has four large and many small paintings. Among these, his paintings called "Jewish Type" and "Beggar" show his superior success and power in the art of painting.
A nice collection of İsmail Hakkı Altunbezer’s works:
You can access some of his works in HD on ketebe.org.