Louis Nicolas de Lespinasse

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Louis Nicolas de Lespinasse
1734-1808
The Reception of an Ambassador by the Grand Vizier at the Sublime Porte
1790
Graphite, pen and brown ink, watercolor and gouache, heightened with white, on paper.
9 7/8 x 15 3/8 inches (252 x 392 mm)
Purchased on the Sunny Crawford von Bülow Fund 1978.
2006.3
Notes: 

Lespinasse, whose precision and finesse as a topographical draftsman are unmatched in the eighteenth century, executed highly finished watercolors representing the important architectural sights of the day. He produced this elegant scene and "The Presentation of an Ambassador to the Sultan in the Hall of Petitions of the Topkapi Palace, Constantinople" (2006.2) on commission from Ignatius Mouradgea d'Ohsson (1740-1807). The two drawings were probably executed in Paris from original designs recording the events by an Ottoman Greek painter, Kapidagli Konstantin or his workshop. Lespinasse's drawings were intended to illustrate Mouradgea d'Ohsson's "Tableau general de l'Empire Othoman", a three-volume work documenting life in the Ottoman empire; the first two volumes were published in Paris in 1787 and 1789, while publication of the third volume was delayed until 1820 due to the Revolution. The present drawing apparently was not published, possibly because its intricate detail would have made it too costly to reproduce.

Inscription: 

Signed with the artist's initials and dated, "d. L. 1790".

Provenance: 
Stockholms Auktionsverk, 25 November 1997, part of lot 1293; London, Christie's, 7 July 1998, lot 236; New York, Christie's, 22 January 2003, part of lot 70; acquired from Andrew Clayton Payne, London.
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