Eunuch of the Seraglio

Location

Country: Turkey
City: Istanbul
Place: British Consulate-General

Amadeo, Fifth Count Preziosi, a Maltese noble, abandoned his law studies to enter the Paris Academy of Fine Arts. He travelled to Constantinople in 1842 and while there was commissioned by the British Ambassador’s Private Secretary to make a series of drawings. This helped establish his reputation as an artist and he set up a studio in Constantinople. In addition to Italian, Preziosi spoke French, Greek, English and Turkish. He married a Greek woman from Constantinople and had four children. For many years he lived in Beyoglu, near the present British Consulate. While his pictures were often bought by locals, his reputation rapidly spread to Western Europe as travellers (including the Prince of Wales) took his works home as souvenirs.

Places

Turkey (as place name), Istanbul

Subjects

carriage, horseback, topography, genre, horse, man, 19th century costume, eunuch

Materials & Techniques

lithograph, colour lithograph

Artist

Amadeo Preziosi (1816 - 1882)

Title

Eunuch of the Seraglio

Date

published 1858

Medium

Colour lithograph

Acquisition

Presented by Sir Stephen Gaselee, June 1930

Provenance

Presented to the British Consulate, Istanbul by Sir Stephen Gaselee, June 1930

GAC number

15436