Sixty works of Dutch and British merchant banker, author, philosopher and art collector Thomas Hope (1769-1831), which present Istanbul during the era of the Ottoman Empire, are hosted in an exhibition titled “Thomas Hope: Drawings of Ottoman Istanbul” at the Benaki Museum of Islamic Art.
The exhibition, which opens on Thursday and will last until September 25, 2016, was described by Turkish Ambassador to Greece Kerim Uras as a “pleasant cultural break in the relations of the two countries.”
Thomas Hope (1769-1831), a scion of a wealthy banking family, went on a Grand Tour, the traditional trip to Greece and Turkey for the young men of his class, during the last quarter of the 18th century. Virtuoso, with unique collections of antiquities, sculptures and European paintings, a generous sponsor and an expert in the fields of architecture and decoration overturned the artistic settings of his time, leaving his mark on the period of the Regency.
The exhibition reveals the artist’s works from the capital of the Ottoman Empire. More specifically: Topographic views and folding panoramas of Istanbul, individual scenes from different neighbourhoods of Istanbul, monuments, temples, Ottoman palaces, halls of the seraglios, gates, mosques, funerary monuments, fountains, gates, the yalı on the Bosporus, the sultan’s entertainments boats.
Linear draftsmanship
Other scenes include details from market shops, coffee shops, images of various men, women with children of Istanbul, depictions of costumes, architectural details, accompanied by lengthy explanations and descriptions with comments. The works are of excellent quality because Thomas Hope was an unparalleled designer, a virtuoso of linear draftsmanship comparable to the qualities of a miniature painter.
His works, 350 in total, were kept in his personal library bounded in five volumes, which disappeared after his death. The international scientific community thought they were lost, but in fact they had been bought by Antonis Benakis in 1930 and were kept at the museum’s library. After an extensive search, they were discovered in 1984 by the exhibition’s curator and History Professor Dr Fani Maria Tsigakou.
However, the importance of the Thomas Hope collection is not limited to the aesthetic pleasure it offers to art enthusiasts. The designs constitute a unique treasure of visual testimonies for the scholars of the Ottoman civilization.
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