Hagia Sophia — Vue Générale de la Grande Nef

Gaspar Fossati (1809–1883), Vue Générale de la Grande Nef, en Regardant l’Occident, plate 4 from Aya Sofia, Constantinople, as Recently Restored by Order of H.M. the Sultan Abdul Medjid. London, Day & Son, 1852. Hand-coloured tinted lithograph, 14¼ × 10½ inches (sheet). Mild darkening and occasional spotting to margins of sheet, traces from old mount.

The most sought-after lithograph from Fossati’s monumental work on Hagia Sophia. An architect and engineer by training, Fossati was commissioned by the Sultan to restore Hagia Sophia in 1847, in the course of which many of the building’s Byzantine frescos and mosaics were uncovered, including the hexapteryga (seraphim) in the supports of the dome, whose faces were covered over again by Fossati after restoration was complete (pictured in the lithograph).

A fine impression of this rare lithograph.