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Me Eric Caudron
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TURKEY – MELLING – ISTANBUL – “General view of CONSTANTINOPL…
See original version (French)
468
-
TURKEY – MELLING – ISTANBUL – “General view of CONSTANTINOPL…
See original version (French)
Estimate €350 - €400
Voluntary lot
Description
TURKEY – MELLING – ISTANBUL – “General view of CONSTANTINOPLE, taken from Mount Boulgourlou above Scutari”. 1819. Etching engraved by PILLEMENT and finished by DUPARC, after Antoine Ignace MELLING (1763–1831). Proof with letter, on vellum paper. Plate from the series “Picturesque Journey through Constantinople and along the Banks of the Bosphorus, based on drawings by Mr Melling, architect to Emperor Selim III and draughtsman to the Sultana Hadidge, his sister”. Margins. View of Istanbul from Bulgurlu Hill in Üsküdar. In the foreground, two men from Western Europe, one of whom is most likely the artist himself, are talking with Ottomans. 65 x 99 cm. Condition B/C (trace of original vertical centre fold, some light foxing and signs of sun damage, rare short marginal tears). Born in Lorraine in 1763, Antoine Ignace Melling, an artist and traveller, trained in architecture and painting. At the age of 19, he travelled to Constantinople as part of the Russian ambassador’s entourage. After successfully completing several commissions for Hatice Sultan, sister of Selim III—including the renovation of her palace at Ortaköy—Melling was appointed architect to the sultan in 1795. This position afforded him the privilege of observing the Ottoman court and, during the eighteen years he spent there, he produced numerous detailed drawings of the sultan’s palaces, Ottoman society, and Constantinople and its surroundings. A year after his return to Paris in 1803, Melling published a prospectus for the *Voyage pittoresque*, the first thirteen instalments of which appeared in 1809. He completed the engravings for this work in 1819.
See original version (French)
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