This exceptional watercolour was made in Istanbul in 1840 by John Frederick Lewis. Showing the interior of the great mosque of Hagia Sophia, Lewis captures the complex architecture of the sixth-century church with its fifteenth-century Ottoman additions, populated by contemporary figures at prayer. Exquisitely delineated in graphite on grey paper, Lewis captures the glittering, jewel-like interior in rich watercolour, preserved in outstanding condition, this beguiling work is one of Lewis’s acknowledged masterpieces.

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