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Mabeyin or Hall of Audience at Topkapi Saray

Anonymous Greek artist

1809

watercolor

From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum

Romanticism Early 19th Century Interior

Dominant colour

Mabeyin or Hall of Audience at Topkapi Saray 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 painting is called Mabeyin or Hall of Audience at Topkapi Saray. It's an interior scene. The artist was hired by Stratford Canning to make a series of views and studies of Ottoman institutions and buildings. This was part of Canning's work as a diplomat in Turkey. You can learn more about this kind of art at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

The story of this work

Overview

An anonymous Greek artist created this water and bodycolour view of the Mabeyin or Hall of Audience at Topkapi Saray in 1809 as part of a series commissioned by Stratford Canning during his diplomatic mission to Istanbul. The work blends dense Ottoman artistic techniques with European perspective and representation, reflecting the artist’s probable association with the circle of Konstantin Kapidagli. The series, later bound in a volume, was acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1895 from Canning’s daughter Charlotte. Some preparatory copies by Charles Cockerell are held in the British…

Read the full account in the museum source.