Antoine de Favray: 6 works

'De Favray arrived in İstanbul aboard this vessel, painted an İstanbul panorama to commemorate this event, as well as the ambassador's audience with Sultan Osman III, and made portraits of Comte and Comtesse de Vergennes in Turkish attire, whom the ambassador married shortly before he left İstanbul.'

'Apart from the reception of the ambassador by the sultan, Favray also depicted a panorama of Istanbul for the ambassador.'

'It is known that Favray, who while he was in Istanbul was in close contact with the French and Russian embassies, did many portraits of people connected to the embassies. He primarily worked under the patronage of French ambassadors and he has depicted the model for this painting in a pose and composition reminiscent of the portraits of the Vergennes Count and Countess, which are also in this exhibition.'

'The costume of the model in this unidentified half length portrait is very similar to the one worn by the French Ambassador Gravier, Favray's first patron in Istanbul whose portrait is also included in this exhibition, but their physiognomies are different.'

'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.'

'Panoramic İstanbul views hold an important place among the paintings de Favray produced in İstanbul.'