Artwork

Yediküle with a Muslim Cemetery, Constantinople

Yediküle with a Muslim Cemetery, Constantinople, by Michel-François Préaulx [Préaux], watercolor, 1810
Yediküle with a Muslim Cemetery, Constantinople, by Michel-François Préaulx [Préaux], watercolor, 1810

Yediküle with a Muslim Cemetery, Constantinople is a watercolor work on paper by the Romanticist artist Michel-François Préaulx [Préaux]. It dates from 1810 and is held in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum.

About this work

Overview

Yediküle with a Muslim Cemetery, Constantinople is a watercolour painting by Michel-François Préaulx, created in 1810. It depicts a serene scene of the Yediküle fortress set against a Muslim cemetery in Constantinople.

Subject & Meaning

The painting shows the Yediküle fortress, with a weathered stone wall, tower, and ruins. A cemetery in the foreground contains scattered, weathered gravestones, with a few figures resting, talking, or walking among them.

Technique & Style

The watercolour is characterised by muted grays and blues, with touches of green and earthy brown. The scene is rendered in a detailed and quiet manner, with tall, thin trees lining the left side and a pale sky above.

History & Provenance

The watercolour was later reproduced as an aquatint plate in Charles Pertusier's 1817 *Atlas des promenades pittoresques dans Constantinople et sur les rives du Bosphore*.

Artist & collection