Born in Lorraine in 1763, Antoine Ignace Melling, artist and voyager, was trained in architecture and painting. At the age of 19, he went to Constantinople as part of the Russian Ambassador's retinue. After successfully completing several commissions for Hatice Sultan, the sister of Selim III, which included the renovation and landscaping of her palace at Ortakeï, Melling was employed as the Sultan's architect in 1795. His position as royal architect gave him a privileged opportunity to observe the Ottoman court, and during his eighteen years there, Melling Pasha made many detailed drawings of the sultan's palaces, Ottoman society, and Constantinople and its environs. Having completed various projects for Selim III, Melling returned to Paris in 1803. A prospectus for Voyage pittoresque appeared in 1804, but production did not start until 1809 and was not completed until 1819: appearing in thirteen livraisons. The outstanding success of the exhibitions on which the work was based earned Melling the title of Painter to the Empress Josephine. Book contains half-title and title-page with gold-printed tughra in text volume, engraved title-page in plate volume, engraved portrait of Selim III by Heinrich Karl Müller after Anicet Charles Gabriel Lemoine, 48 large engraved plates by Dupare, Schroeder, Née, Dupréel and others after Melling, 3 engraved maps by J.B. Barbié du Bocage after F. Kauffer. The lithographic reproductions of Melling's Voyage pittoresque (50 plates) and Choiseul-Gouffier's Voyage pittoresque de la la Grèce (Paris, 1782-1822) (100 plates) were published from 1823 in installments in Brussels. They appear to be a close but reduced copy in lithography of the original work. Weber records a copy of the text (only) printed in Brussels by Wahlen in 1829. These plates were lithographed at the Calcographie Royale de J. Groubaud after Peetermans, Lauters, Plou, Lemonnier and/or Delpierre. Most prints found today are from this second printing. A third printing was done in London about which I currently have too little information.
Pl06 - Vue générale de Constantinople, prise de la montagne de Boulgourlou, au-dessus de Scutari
From the 3rd English printing. The picture has been significantly modified from the original printing, bringing the European side closer, changing the landscape between the people in the foreground and the Bosphorus and changing the people in the foreground as well.
The largess and depth of the original is lost in this printing.
