Ruth Woodbridge
Head of Department
Lot 174
Vittorio Amadeo Preziosi(Maltese, 1816-1882)The Galata Bridge, Istanbul
7 December 2011, 14:00 GMT
London, KnightsbridgeSold for £51,650 inc. premium
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Vittorio Amadeo Preziosi (Maltese, 1816-1882)
The Galata Bridge, Istanbul
pen and ink and watercolour heightened with white
42 x 59cm (16 9/16 x 23 1/4in).
pen and ink and watercolour heightened with white
42 x 59cm (16 9/16 x 23 1/4in).
Footnotes
PROVENANCE:
Private collection, UK
The first bridge that crossed the Golden Horn at Galata was called the Cisr-i Cedid (New Bridge). Constructed of wood in 1845, about three years after Preziosi had settled in Istanbul, it lasted until it was replaced by another wooden structure in 1863-4. This typical view by the artist shows the activity of the watermen with their boats in the foreground, a man fishing from the pontoons, and the throng of humanity crossing the bridge, each individual often depicted in separate watercolours by Preziosi. Dominating the foreshore to the left is the Yeni Cami, the last of the imperial mosques, and to the right, on the hill, is the great Süleymaniye mosque complex; between them, just above the centre of the bridge, is the much smaller mosque of Rüstem Pasha.
We are grateful to Charles Newton and Briony Llewellyn for their assistance in cataloguing this lot.
