Grand Tour 2018

I’m recently back from my own Grand Tour, a month of conferences and research from England to Turkey with a week of vacation thrown in. One of the highlights was finally getting to Istanbul, a city I have read/thought/dreamed about for decades. I have been on the trail of Gentile Bellini’s portrait of Sultan Mehmed II (simply “Fatih” for Turks) and had an extremely rewarding visit, talking to leaders in the Istanbul art world about the recent history of this picture and to people on the street about what it means to them today. I’m now back in NYC, in residence at the New York Public Library, cranking out the last few chapters of my book. And remembering my glorious view over the Golden Horn….