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Lot Essay
The twenty-eighth sultan of Turkey, Selim III, who ruled from 1789 to 1807, commissioned Young to make a series of mezzotints after portraits of the emperors of Turkey based on an album of 19th-century miniatures. Production halted when janissaries assassinated the sultan in 1807 following his attempt to reform the infantry-bodyguard corps along Western European lines. Mahmoud II ascended the throne, and Young resumed work in 1810.
This lot constitutes an unusually expansive example of the Ottoman Empire’s patronage of Western artists. This is the second state of the work with reference to Mahmoud II. The title appeared in two states: the first giving a date of 1808; the second giving a date of 1815 (as here) and including a reference to Mahmoud II. The very fine mezzotint engravings are after a Greek peasant 'who displayed such proofs of natural talent as to enduce the Emperor Selim to patronise him' (Preface). The final two plates appear in the second issue only. Abbey Travel 372; Atabey 135 (second issue); Bobins I, 175; Blackmer 1863 (first issue); Brunet V, 1510; Lipperheide Lb 45; Tooley 516.
Other groups from this series may be found at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Art Institute of Chicago, and the Yale British Art Gallery.
This lot constitutes an unusually expansive example of the Ottoman Empire’s patronage of Western artists. This is the second state of the work with reference to Mahmoud II. The title appeared in two states: the first giving a date of 1808; the second giving a date of 1815 (as here) and including a reference to Mahmoud II. The very fine mezzotint engravings are after a Greek peasant 'who displayed such proofs of natural talent as to enduce the Emperor Selim to patronise him' (Preface). The final two plates appear in the second issue only. Abbey Travel 372; Atabey 135 (second issue); Bobins I, 175; Blackmer 1863 (first issue); Brunet V, 1510; Lipperheide Lb 45; Tooley 516.
Other groups from this series may be found at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Art Institute of Chicago, and the Yale British Art Gallery.
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Lot 145
Sale 22089
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Thirty Prints from a Series of Portraits of the Emperors of Turkey from the Foundation of the Monarchy to the Year 1815
JOHN YOUNG (BRITISH, 1755-1825)
Estimate: USD 20,000 - 30,000
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Lot 145
Sale 22089
Thirty Prints from a Series of Portraits of the Emperors of Turkey from the Foundation of the Monarchy to the Year 1815
JOHN YOUNG (BRITISH, 1755-1825)
Estimate: USD 20,000 - 30,000
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