Pasha Halim Receiving Archduke Maximilian of Austria As this painting suggests, Ottoman leaders became well versed in European languages and culture. They also mastered the game of power politics, playing one European state against another and securing the Ottoman Empire’s survival. The black servants on the right may be slaves from the Sudan. (Painting by Peter Johann Nepomuk Geiger, 1850, oil on canvas/Miramare Palace, Trieste, Italy/De Agostini Picture Library/Gianni Dagli Orti/The Bridgeman Art Library)