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Dilsiz or Mute

Anonymous Greek artist

1809

watercolor

From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum

Romanticism Early 19th Century

Dominant colour

Dilsiz or Mute 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 unnamed Greek artist. It shows a scene from Ottoman life, made for British diplomat Stratford Canning during his time in Istanbul. The artist mixed Ottoman painting styles with European techniques. Canning hired local artists to document what he saw. Their work gives us a rare look at early 1800s Turkish culture. Check out the Victoria and Albert Museum for more.

The story of this work

Overview

One of a series of large views and studies commissioned by Stratford Canning during his diplomatic mission to Istanbul in 1808–09, this water and bodycolour drawing was executed by an anonymous Greek artist associated with the circle of Konstantin Kapidagli. The work blends dense Ottoman watercolour technique with European conventions of perspective and representation. The series was later bound together and acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1895 from Charlotte Canning, Stratford Canning’s daughter, for ten guineas.

Read the full account in the museum source.