IMPORTANT ALBUM OF PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINTS BY ABDULLAH BROTHERS Turkey, Constantinople, circa 1865 Oblong broadsheet album, bound in black percaline, containing 37 prints on salted-aluminized and albumen paper. Spine of binding damaged. Size : 28,5 x 35 (6) and 22,5 x 28 cm (31). 49 x 62 cm (binding) Bibliography : Bahattin Öztuncay, The Photographers of Constantinople, 2003, Aygaz, T. 2. Provenance: Hôtel Drouot, 5 June 2013, lot 372 The 37 views gathered in this album are taken in Constantinople, in the suburbs of the city and along the Bosphorus. They contain thirteen views of Hagia Sophia (Hagia Sophia, Ayasofya), mainly the interior of the building, four Byzantine monuments (Tekfur Saray, the Serpentine Column, the Obelisk of Theodosius, and the walls of Constantinople), several views of Ottoman mosques, a beautiful view of the Golden Horn taken from Galata, and several views of the Bosphorus. A complete list is available upon request. The Abdullah Brothers studio was founded by three Ottoman brothers of Armenian origin Vicen, Hovsep and Kevork Abdullahyan. The brothers were educated as artists before perfecting their mastery of photography in Europe. After the end of the Crimean War, Vicen became an apprentice to a German photographer in Istanbul and took over the studio in 1858. The studio was active until 1899, enjoying great success in the Ottoman Empire and with Europeans. They were appointed official court photographers by Sultan 'Abd al-'Aziz (r. 1861-76) and in 1867, they exhibited at the Universal Exhibition in Paris. Their clients included Empress Eugenie, Emperor Franz-Joseph, Nasir al-Din Shah, Khedive Isma'il Pasha, etc. They participated in the popularization of images of the Ottoman Empire, often composed and orientalizing views. The three Istanbul-born brothers nevertheless demonstrate a particular perception of the Ottoman landscape that differs from that of European photographers (Shanna Goodwin, The Abdullah Brothers: Shifting Identities for Artistic Advancement on the Global Scale, p.7).