|
RUE DE GALATA Constantinople Artist: Eugene Flandin del et lith.____________ Engraver: Imp. Bertauts r Cadet Paris |
PRINT DATE: Unknown. This is a reproduction of the 1850s original lithograph prints by Eugene Flandin extracted from an undated folio, estimated circa 1970-1980. Comes with tissue guard.
We pack properly to protect your item!
FROM THE ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION: GALATA STREET- Galata Streets, not parallel to the sea, with their. European shops attract attention. The first 13 storeys of houses on the left and right sides of these streets run over the side-walks and go beyond the bounds of the road. The Galata Tower (Galata Kulesi in Turkish) — called Christea Turris (the Tower of Christ in Latin) by the Genoese — is a medieval stone tower in the Galata/Karaköy quarter of Istanbul, Turkey, just to the north of the Golden Horn's junction with the Bosphorus. One of the city's most striking landmarks, it is a high, cone-capped cylinder that dominates the skyline and offers a panoramic vista of Istanbul's historic peninsula and its environs. The nine-story tower is 66.90 meters tall (62.59 m without the ornament on top, 51.65 m at the observation deck), and was the city's tallest structure when it was built. The elevation at ground level is 35 meters above sea-level. The tower has an external diameter of 16.45 meters at the base, an 8.95 meters diameter inside, and walls that are 3.75 meters thick. There is a restaurant and café on its upper floors which command a magnificent view of Istanbul and the Bosphorus. Also located on the upper floors is a night club which hosts a Turkish show. There are two operating elevators that carry visitors from the lower level to the upper levels. The Romanesque style tower was built as Christea Turris (Tower of Christ) in 1348 during an expansion of the Genoese colony in Constantinople. Galata Tower was the tallest building in Istanbul at 219½ feet (66.9 m) when it was built in 1348. It was built to replace the old Tower of Galata, an original Byzantine tower named Megalos Pyrgos (English: Great Tower) which controlled the northern end of the massive sea chain that closed the entrance to the Golden Horn. That tower was on a different site and was largely destroyed in 1203, during the Fourth Crusade of 1202–1204. According to the Seyahatname of Ottoman historian and traveller Evliya Çelebi, in circa 1630-1632, Hezarfen Ahmet Çelebi flew as an early intercontinental aviator using artificial wings for gliding from this tower over the Bosphorus to the slopes of Üsküdar on the Anatolian side, nearly six kilometres away. Evliyâ Çelebi also tells of Hezarfen's brother, Lagari Hasan Çelebi, performing the first flight with a rocket in a conical cage filled with gunpowder in 1633. Starting from 1717 the Ottomans began to use the tower for spotting fires in the city. In 1794, during the reign of Sultan Selim III, the roof of the tower was made of lead and wood, and the stairs were severely damaged by a fire. Another fire damaged the building in 1831, upon which a new restoration work took place. In 1875, during a storm, the conical roof on the top of the building was destroyed. The tower remained without this conical roof for the rest of the Ottoman period. Many years later, during the restoration works between 1965 and 1967, the conical roof was reconstructed. During this final restoration in the 1960s, the wooden interior of the tower was replaced by a concrete structure and it was commercialized and opened to the public. From the top of the tower, the first French panorama painter Pierre Prévost drew in 1818 his "Panorama de Constantinople" which was later exhibited in Paris in 1825. The panorama image shown below is composed of ten photos taken from the Galata Tower by the photographic firm of Sébah & Joaillier, and is most likely to have been taken in the 1880s.
BIOGRAPHY OF ARTIST: Eugene Napoleon Flandin, a French artist, was born 1809 in Naples to French parents and died 1876 in Paris. He was a painter of history scenes, genre scenes, portraits, landscapes and urban landscapes. He also worked in watercolor and produced drawings. He was considered an Orientalist. Flandin was the student of Horace Vernet. He accompanied the French Army to Algeria in 1837. In 1840, he was sent on a mission to Perse in order to recover information on the evolution of the country under the reign of Mohammad Chah Qadjar. Accompanied by the architect and painter Pascal Coste, they inventoried the region's ancient and modern monuments. They visited Hamadan, Kirmanshah, Ispahan, then Chiraz, Persepolis, and finally during their return they passed through Mossoul, Alep, and Constantinople. Flandin returned to the Middle East in 1844, this time in Mesopotamia. He exhibited at the Paris Salon, obtaining a second place medal in 1837. He was decorated with the cross of the Legion of Honor in 1842. The early part of his work is imprinted with the themes of the region of his birthplace. He painted views of monuments, landscapes, genre scenes, and portraits. He has a very diverse oeuvre because of his numerous travels. Upon the return from his first voyage to the Middle East he compiled an album of six volumes in collaboration with Pascal Coste. He published another album of his Middle East travels in 1856 in four volumes. His works have been displayed in museums in Auch, Caen, Lille, Marseille, La Roche-sur-Yon, Rouen and Versailles
AN ANTIQUE VIEW OF CONSTANTINOPLE / ISTANBUL / THE ORIENT AS IT WAS 150+ YEARS AGO!
A GREAT OFFICE DEN WALL DECOR GIFT FOR THE WORLD TRAVELLER, OR ARCHITECT DESIGNER WHO APPRECIATES THE BYZANTINE, OTTOMAN, GEONESE ARCHITECTURE OF THIS REGION.