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Bekçi, or watchman

Anonymous Greek artist

1809

watercolor

From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum

Romanticism Early 19th Century

Dominant colour

Bekçi, or watchman is a 1809 watercolor by Anonymous Greek artist, a Romanticism work, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.

Who painted this?: Anonymous Greek artist
When & what style?: 1809 · Romanticism
Where can I see it?: Victoria and Albert Museum

About this work

This is a watercolour from 1809 by an unknown Greek artist. It shows watchmen on patrol in Ottoman times. Their job was to hit metal-tipped clubs on the pavement to warn of fires. A British diplomat named Stratford Canning hired the artist to record Ottoman life around Istanbul in 1808. Look up the Victoria and Albert Museum to see this work.

The story of this work

Overview

A watchman, depicted by an anonymous Greek artist in 1809, holds a club with a metal tip used to patrol Ottoman streets and alert residents to fires by striking the pavement. The work is part of a larger series commissioned by diplomat Stratford Canning during his early service in Istanbul, documenting local customs and institutions through detailed water and bodycolour drawings. The artist’s style merges Ottoman artistic techniques with European perspective and representation, possibly linked to the circle of Konstantin Kapidagli. The series, later bound in a volume, was acquired by the…

Read the full account in the museum source.