{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O146210"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O146210/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2008BV6628/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2008BV6628/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2008BV6628","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006BH9489","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O146210/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O146210","accessionNumber":"SD.582","objectType":"Watercolour","titles":[{"title":"Interior of the Mosque of Aya Sofya, Istanbul  [Interior of Hagia Sophia, Constantinople]","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"Lewis is famous for the exquisite paintings of oriental life that he exhibited in London in the mid-nineteenth century. Though lesser known, the watercolour sketches he made while living in Turkey and Egypt are also exceptional. In the example shown here, the vast interior space of Hagia Sophia is conveyed with an apparent minimum of effort. The delicately rendered pencil framework is given substance by a judicious use of white highlights and sparingly applied touches of colour, notably in the tiny pinpoints of red for the fezzes of members of the congregation. The view is of the eastern end of the basilica, at that time used as a mosque, with the minbar (pulpit) to the right. On the piers hang square levhas (painted wooden plaques), bearing the Sacred Islamic Names, which, during the restorations carried out by the Fossati brothers later in the 1840s, were replaced by round ones. Lewis spent about a year in Constantinople from October 1840 before continuing on to Egypt, where he lived for nearly a decade, returning to England in 1851.","physicalDescription":"Watercolour drawing","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Lewis, John Frederick (RA POWCS)","id":"A8614"},"association":{"text":"artist","id":"AAT25103"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"watercolour","id":"x33202"}],"techniques":[{"text":"watercolour drawing","id":"x37878"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Pencil, chalk and watercolour, heightened with white","categories":[{"text":"Paintings","id":"THES48917"}],"styles":[{"text":"Orientalism","id":"x31272"},{"text":"British School","id":"x30967"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2008BV6628","2006BH9489"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLC","id":"THES49171"},"free":"","case":"MB2A","shelf":"DR106","box":"LOANS"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"watercolour","id":"AAT33973"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Turkey","id":"x29225"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1840-1841","earliest":"1840-01-01","latest":"1841-12-31"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Purchased with the assistance of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, Art Fund, Shell International and the Friends of the V&A","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"36.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"47.6","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"According to Rodney Searight: - `Bt fr Fine Art Socy., March 1970, for £300 plus a drawing by Lewis of Ronda, valued at £75'.","historicalContext":"Lewis was in Constantinople by 14 October 1840 when Wilkie mentioned his presence there in a letter to W. Collins RA.  After visiting Bursa the following summer he left for Egypt, probably in November 1841 (see Lewis, 1978, p.21 and Laing, 1971, p.7).  Several drawings of Haghia Sophia appeared in the Lewis sales of 1877, 1897 and 1909.  SD.582 is probably one of them.  For other examples, see Laing, 1971 (44 & 45) and Lewis, 1978 (378-81, & 385).  This drawing shows the eastern end of Haghia Sophia with the minber on the right, muezzin mahfili on the left and levhas (painted wooden plaques) hanging from the piers.  The latter were replaced during the restorations carried out by the Fossati brothers in 1847-9 (see SP.271 & SP.272).  See G. Goodwin, A History of Ottoman Architecture, 1971.","briefDescription":"Watercolour, Interior of the Mosque of Aya Sofya, Istanbul  [Interior of Haghia Sophia, Constantinople], 1840-1841, by John Frederick Lewis","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"Searight, Rodney. <i>The Middle East : watercolours and drawings by British and foreign artists and travellers, 1750-1900, from the collection of Rodney Searight, Esq.</i> London, 1971","id":"AUTH351220"},"details":"","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"<i>John Frederick Lewis R.A. : 1805-1876</i>, Newcastle upon Tyne : The Gallery, 1971","id":"AUTH354596"},"details":"no.43","free":""}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[{"text":"Istanbul","id":"x33871"},{"text":"Hagia Sophia","id":"x40410"},{"text":"Turkey","id":"x29225"}],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"John Frederick Lewis 1804/5-1876\nInterior of the Mosque of Ayasofya, Istanbul\n1840-41\n\n\nLewis was in Istanbul in October 1840. This drawing shows the great church of the Hagia Sophia, built in the 6th century AD and later converted into a mosque known as Ayasofya. The structure on the right is the minbar or pulpit, from which the Friday sermon was read.\n\n\n\nPencil, chalk and watercolour, heightened with white\n\nPurchased 1985\nMuseum no. SD.582","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null}}],"partNumbers":["SD.582"],"accessionNumberNum":"582","accessionNumberPrefix":"SD","accessionYear":null,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-11-25","recordCreationDate":"2008-02-27","availableToBook":false}}