Fausto Zonaro

Adolphe Thalasso was a friend and patron of Zonaro as well as a writer and art critic. Thalasso’s writing predominantly focused on Istanbul. From Paris he would visit the Ottoman capital often and commission Zonaro to illustrate his publications. Thalasso published an article dedicated to Zonaro in the Figaro Illustré in 1907. Sultan Abdül Hamid II greatly praised the article and bestowed the Mecidi order on Thalasso.

In the present work, Zonaro has depicted Thalasso in Ottoman costume, smoking a waterpipe, with the Yeni Mosque in the distance. A similar composition is published in Osman Öndeş & Erol Makzume’s Ottoman Court Painter Fausto Zonaro, YKY, Istanbul, 2003, p. 72 and Adolphe Thalasso’s Déri Sé'adet ou Stamboul Porte du Bonheur. Scènes de la Vie Turque, L'Edition d'Art H. Piazza & Cie., Paris, 1908.

Zonaro was born in Padua and studied in Verona, however by 1892 he was living and working in Istanbul. His talent soon came to the attention of aristocratic circles and Abdül Hamid II, the last Ottoman Sultan, who appointed him painter to his court. Zonaro went on to become a teacher at the School of Replica Handbags founded by Osman Hamdy Bey. Thanks to the Sultan’s patronage, Zonaro was able to explore every corner of the city undisturbed, painting city views, markets, public ceremonies and religious festivals that would have otherwise been forbidden to him by Islamic law.