The Allied Fleets Anchored in the Bosphorus

Location

Country: Turkey
City: Istanbul
Place: British Consulate-General

Amadeo, Fifth Count Preziosi, a Maltese noble, abandoned his law studies to enter the Paris Academy of Fine Arts. He travelled to Constantinople in 1842 and while there was commissioned by the British Ambassador’s Private Secretary to make a series of drawings. This helped establish his reputation as an artist and he set up a studio in Constantinople. In addition to Italian, Preziosi spoke French, Greek, English and Turkish. He married a Greek woman from Constantinople and had four children. For many years he lived in Beyoglu, near the present British Consulate. While his pictures were often bought by locals, his reputation rapidly spread to Western Europe as travellers (including the Prince of Wales) took his works home as souvenirs.

Places

Turkey (as place name), Bosphorus

Subjects

fleet, herdsman, topography, seascape/coastal scene, tree, cow, stone/rock, sea, ship

Materials & Techniques

paper (as artists material), linen, watercolour (as artists materials), watercolour (as object name)

Artist

Amadeo Preziosi (1816 - 1882)

Title

The Allied Fleets Anchored in the Bosphorus

Date

1853

Medium

Watercolour on paper

Dimensions

height: 46.50 cm, width: 95.00 cm

Acquisition

Presented by William Selkirk, July 1952

Inscription

bl: Preziosi 1853

GAC number

1807