ANTOINE MELLING: AN EVALUATION ON HIS LIFE, HIS WORKS AND “VOYAGE PITTORESQUE DE CONSTANTINOPLE ET DES RIVES DU BOSPHORE”

As one of the leading Orientalist painters of the late XVIIIth century, Antoine-Ignace Melling (1763 – 1831), initially worked for some European embassies in Istanbul, then for Ottoman monarch Selim III (1761 – 1808) and his sister Hatice Sultan (1768 – 1822). In this period, he realized many architectural achievements reflecting the new taste of Istanbul, which has been an amalgam of both Western and Persian influences. Moreover, as a master of topographical painting, he worked mainly in the Bosphorus area and chronicled the Ottoman capital’s rapidly changing face, which has been shaped by this new taste. After his departure from Istanbul, he returned to France and initiated preparations for his most important work, Voyage pittoresque de Constantinople et des Rives du Bosphore. While this majestic work which has been mainly focused on both shores of the Bosphorus but also involved historical peninsula and Beyoğlu district, provides important information about daily lives of Muslim and non-Muslim Ottomans, it also keeps a regular and monolithic record of Istanbul’s natural and urban texture. Including 48 gravures and informative texts for all those images, this work can be identified as a guidebook for foreign travellers of Istanbul. This text, focusing on Melling’s life and body of work, also questions their meanings within the context of XVIIIth century Istanbul.

Keywords

Orientalist painting, XVIIIth century Ottoman architecture, Istanbul