View on the Bosphorus

A frequently used viewpoint, afloat on the Bosphorus, the life blood of the city, with small boats and local people going about their daily business in the foreground. T his view depicts the Nusretiye Mosque, meaning the Mosque of Victory, newly built between 1823 and 1826 as part of the redevelopment of the Tophane artillery barracks by Mahmut II in celebration of his expulsion of the traditional, but rebellious, Janissary guard in favour of more western-style troops. It is located in the Tophane district of Beyoglu, in Istanbul, and was designed in a style fusing western baroque with eastern Islamic architecture, which so typifies the crossroads that is Istanbul, by Krikor Balyan (1764-1831), the first of a dynasty of nine architects from the Armenian Balyan family to serve the royal household through the 19th century.

A native of Malta, Preziosi first visited Istanbul in 1842, and depicting the city and its in their distinctive costumes and attitudes was to be the focus of his artistic career thereafter. In the 1850s he worked for the Illustrated London News, and in 1866 Preziosi was invited to paint the official portrait of the Ottoman Sultan Abdülaziz for the Turkish Pavilion of the 1867 Universal Exhibition in Paris. During his time in Constantinople, which he made his home, Preziosi became the most popular painter in the city. In the age of the Grand Tour, and before the commercial development of photography, such orientalist scenes as this would be highly sought-after as mementoes of a visit to such an exotic land. Preziosi's gift for depicting people and costume, and free flowing lines, along with attention to small details, made his work particularly appealing. As copies of two of his original works, which are now housed in the Pera Museum in Istanbul, their visible age and the quality of their execution, place them firmly in the artist's studio or very close circle.