Detail from Panorama of İstanbul

Panoramic İstanbul views hold an important place among the paintings de Favray produced in İstanbul. The fastidiousness and accuracy with which details are incorporated into the landscapes render these works an important documentary character. As often practiced by other Western artists of the period, the views of İstanbul are painted from the embassies in Pera, and particularly from the Russian Palace, where the artist resided for some time during his stay in İstanbul. According to the French diplomat Auguste Boppe, whose book Les Peintres du Bosphore published in 1911 introduces European artists working on the 18th century Ottoman world, de Favray initially painted this cityscape for French Ambassador M. de Vergennes upon his arrival in İstanbul in 1762 and reproduced it in 1770 and 1773 for Knight of Malta Etienne-François Turgot. In his letters to the Knight, de Favray offers a detailed description of the composition and introduces the various quarters and outstanding structures of İstanbul featured in the painting. Furthermore, he also shares with Turgot the difficulty of painting outside the confines of the embassies and praises Pera’s location overlooking the city as an ideal vantage point for İstanbul paintings.