Object of the month

Rossa, wife of Suleiman the Magnificent

Oil painting on panel in contemporary frame, late 17th century

Captured by Ottoman slave traders from her home in Poland/Ukraine, Rossa rose from being a harem girl to marry the Sultan. She died in 1558, a loved and respected figure.

This portrait is in oils painted onto a wooden panel with a wooden frame. Rossa was a contemporary of the early Tudor monarchs of England and comparison with other portraits suggest that this is a reasonable likeness of the subject. It was probably painted in the second half of the 17th century, not long after her death.

Captured from her home in the Ukraine by men engaged in the trafficking of women for the sex trade, Anastasia Lisovska was taken to Istanbul where she was selected for the harem of Suleiman the Magnificent (1520 – 1566), and given a Turkish name: Rossa, also known as Roxelana, Hurrem or Karima, the ‘cheerful one’

She became the Sultan’s favourite concubine, bore him five sons, and in a break with Islamic tradition became Suleiman’s wife. Politically astute, she advised her husband on matters of state and foreign affairs, and corresponded with the Polish court. Mindful of her own experience, she also tried to control the slave traffickers who continued to take girls from her native land.

Rossa also undertook several major charitable building projects, including a mosque and Koranic school and a women’s hospital. She died in 1558 and is buried in Istanbul.

Suleiman continued to rule until his death in 1566 when he was succeeded by Selim II, Rossa’s son.