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Buy a digital subscription Go to the Digital EditionRobertson, Photographer and Engraver in the Ottoman Capital
In May 1854 the engraver James Robertson became the first Istanbul photographer known to have taken 360° panoramic photographs of the city from Beyazıt Tower.
Honoured by the Ottomans for his 40-year career minting coins and medals, he is now remembered as a pioneer photographer whose early, telling images of the city won acclaim in London and Paris, with a selection purchased by Prince Albert (apparently the first photographs ever purchased for the Royal Collection).
Robert’s photographic studio was on the Grand Rue de Pera, now İstiklâl Caddesi, on a site occupied today by the Arter gallery building. At the nearby Koç University Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations (RCAC) a major exhibition of original Robertson photographs and watercolours from the Ömer M. Koç Collection celebrates the 200th anniversary of his birth. Robertson, Photographer and Engraver in the Ottoman Capital runs until February 2, 2014.
Robertson’s work – from landscapes and architecture to costumes and street sellers – formed “the earliest and most comprehensive photographic record of Istanbul,” Mr Koç writes in a catalogue preface.
Born in England, of Scottish heritage, Robertson became part of a team recruited in 1841 by Sultan Abdülmecid to reform the Ottoman imperial mint. Paid a princely £40 monthly, he crafted dies to produce modern gold and silver coins. After ten years’ work he won the Ottoman medal of honour and went on to design 26 different medals for four Sultans. He retired in 1881 and left Istanbul for Japan, where he died in 1888.
Robertson’s short but intense photographic career began as a sideline in the early 1850s, but led to a burst of work in that decade. In October 1853 his first known photographs of Istanbul were published in London in Photographic Views of Constantinople. From 1855 they showed again in London, Paris and Edinburgh, appearing in The Illustrated London News.
Robertson’s reputation was secured with his photographs of the Crimean War as well as images of Athens and Cairo. He sold his studio in 1867 but showed his paintings as late as 1881.
The curator and catalogue author, Bahattin Öztuncay, says that Robertson “revealed himself to be a multi-talented artist capable of creating stunning photographs and watercolours of his adopted city’s colourful life, unique scenery, and matchless works or architecture and art”.
As Öztuncay says, Robertson’s recognition “as one of the most important personalities of the early period of photography” naturally makes 19th-century Istanbul an essential part of the history of world photography.
Justinian’s soaring edifice inspires the same awe today as it did in visitors a millennium ago who wondered if this were Heaven or Earth. Setting out on a tour of the city’s best-preserved Byzantine churches, Robert Ousterhout still senses an air of the miraculous in Ayasofya
The long-awaited Naval Museum has many wonders to reveal, but nothing to compare with the fabulously ornate imperial barges
From a trusty staple to the stuff of feasts, beans are at the very heart of Turkish cuisine. How did we ever live without them?
In a vivid, impressionistic portrait of the Byzantine city, Robert Ousterhout uncovers the history of Byzantium in ten objects, explores the soaring edifice of Ayasofya and picks four of the city’s most inspiring smaller churches.
Take in the Topkapı, where the sultans held sway in secluded grandeur. Saunter round Sultanahmet and the Hippodrome: make the most of the mosques, monuments and museums. Get the buzz of the bazaar: where to snap up covetable collectables and cheerful bargains
Deep in the industrial outskirts of Istanbul, Griselda Warr enters an Aladdin’s cave of Anatolian treasures. Photographs by Fritz von der Schulenburg
AyşeDeniz Gökçin’s musical creations combine the rock-star appeal of Franz Liszt and the psychedelic/progressive brilliance of the band Pink Floyd. Tony Barrell found this prodigiously talented young pianist a force to be reckoned with. Photograph by Charles Hopkinson
John Carswell solves the mystery of the ‘lemon squeezer’ that wasn’t
In a decade of monitoring Turkey’s burgeoning wine industry, Kevin Gould has never been more impressed. He and the Cornucopia tasting team enthusiastically sampled this year’s top bottles and nominated their favourites
It is a joy to explore. New universities, a new museum, and a growing band of new aficionados who have invested modest means in old houses, have created a wonderful sense of optimism. But the ancient waterfront is in the eye of the storm, with many quarters due to be bulldozed and the threat of a hideous new marina. Enjoy it while you can
Hidden away in one of Istanbul’s least prepossessing neighbourhoods is a walled garden surrounding a dream of a kiosk – a favourite of many sultans.
Give yourself over to the grit and bustle of Eminönü’s waterside markets, then ascend to Sinan’s sublime hilltop mosques – the awesome Süleymaniye and the haunting Şehzade. In their shadow is the exuberantly tiles Rüstem Pasha Mosque. Cornucopia devotes 24 pages to this vibrant area, with features on Eminönü and the Suleymaniye district with photographs by Jürgen Frank, and a guide to the mosques beautifully depicted by Fritz von der Schulenburg
Within the deepest reaches of the palace lies the very seat of the sultans’ power
The Grand Bazaar: From Iznik to Armani, objets d’art to handloomed carpets: the choice is yours
When David Wheeler set out to satisfy his craving to explore Turkish gardens, he was guided by a diverse cast of committed Istanbul citizens. What he discovered were myriad horticultural havens, from Byzantine market gardens to Ottoman cemeteries – many of them under imminent threat.
SPECIAL OFFER: order five beautiful garden-themed issues, including this one, for only £80. List price £122
In his 40-year career, Sinan (1489–1588) transformed the Istanbul skyline. Here we explore three of the chief imperial architect’s masterpieces from the golden age of Süleyman the Magnificent. Photographs by Fritz von der Schulenburg
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