Two Turks 1470 - 1491

Martin Schongauer made this engraving, Two Turks, in Germany in the late fifteenth century. It depicts two men identified by their dress and weaponry as Ottoman Turks, representatives of a culture that was then perceived in Europe as a military and religious threat. It's important to remember that in the late Middle Ages, the Ottoman Empire was expanding into Europe, and this expansion caused widespread fear and anxiety. Schongauer's engraving reflects these attitudes, but it also shows a certain degree of curiosity about Turkish culture, the dress, the turbans and curved swords all carefully observed. To really understand this image, one must remember the history of the relationship between Europe and the Ottoman Empire, the Crusades, the trade routes, and the flow of ideas and beliefs between the two cultures. Such research helps us to appreciate the complex social and institutional contexts in which images like Two Turks were created and consumed.