- 164
Préaulx [Préaux], Michel-François.
Estimate
10,000 - 15,000 GBP
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Description
- Watercolour view of Constantinople and the Bosphorus from the Uskudar heights. [c.1800-1820], watercolour, and pen and ink on paper, (visible area 350 x 610mm.), mounted, framed and glazed
- watercolour with pen and ink on paper
- 34.5 by 61cm., 13½ by 24in.
Catalogue Note
Little is known about Préaulx's early life, except that he possibly studied in Rome. He arrived in Constantinople in 1796, with a group of fellow French architects, engineers, cannon founders and artists, commissioned to supply military and naval installations for the Ottoman forces. The French had been invited by Sultan Selim III, desperate to improve the defences of his empire, threatened by hostile nations, especially Russia, and by internal rebellions. Somehow Préaulx survived the difficulty of Napoleon's France subsequently changing from an ally to an enemy of the Ottomans, and he continued to execute topographical drawings for many British and French visitors, including Lord Elgin, British Ambassador in Constantinople, 1799-1803.