The London auction of Sotheby's The Orientalist Sale with only 23 lots in the catalog ended with a total of almost 10 million dollars.
The work "Sunrise on the Golden Horn" is decidedly refined (Oil on canvas 70×99,5 signed and dated Ipto Caffi in Rome / 1844) di Ippolito Caffi, Italian artist (Belluno, October 16, 1809 - Lissa, July 20, 1866).
A panoramic view from Eyüp Heights south along the Golden Horn, with the Galata Tower and the domes and minarets of the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque visible in the distance. In the foreground, from the seashore, stands the Eyüp Sultan Mosque. Erected in 1458, it was the first mosque built by the Ottoman Turks after their conquest of Constantinople in 1453. The Golden Horn, often described as the largest natural harbor in the world, on the European side of the city, flows into the Bosphorus at Menagerie. According to legend, the Byzantines threw so many valuables into it during the Ottoman conquest, to the point that the waters glittered with gold, and the view of Caffi is – fittingly – bathed in a golden morning light.
Ippolito Caffi attended the Venice Academy of Fine Arts, studying under Teodoro Matteini, Francesco Bagnara, and Tranquillo Orsi before establishing his reputation as one of the leaders of nineteenth-century landscape painting in Italy, calling him Canaletto's heir. His works stand out for their spatial construction (in 1835 he published a textbook on the concept of perspective, Lezioni di Prospettiva Pratica, with Antonio Bianchini) and for his astonishing mastery at creating fleeting effects of light and a golden atmosphere like in the present work. He painted mainly in Rome and Venice, in 1843-4 he went to Constantinople, working on paper, bringing back sketches that later became real works of art.
Top Lots:
LUDWIG DEUTSCH - THE OFFERING -Estimate: USD 763,400-1,068,760 – Sold $3,289,490
HERMANN CORRODI -THE FOUNTAIN OF THE SWEET WATERS OF ASIA, ON THE BOSPHORUS – Estimate: USD 305,360-458,040 – Sold $791,645
ALBERTO PASINI - MARKET DAY – Estimate: USD 610,720-916,080 – Sold $736,681
JEAN-LÉON GÉRÔME - CARAVANS IN THE DESERT – Estimate: USD 305,360-458,040 – Sold $718,359
RUDOLF WEISSE - A MOMENT OF PRAYER -Estimate: USD 274,824-381,700 – Sold $645,073
IPPOLITO CAFFI – SUNRISE OVER THE GOLDEN HORN – Estimate: USD 152,680-229,020 – Sold USD 516,821
DAVID ROBERTS RA – SIDON LOOKING TOWARDS THE RANGE OF LEBANON – Estimate: USD 152,680-229,020 Sold $480,178
KONSTANTIN MAKOVSKY - IN THE CLASSROOM – Estimate: USD 122,144-183,216 – Sold $443,535
GEORGES BRETEGNIER - UNE AUDIENCE DU PACHA IN TANGER – Estimate: USD 91,608-122,144 – Sold $342,766
ETIENNE DINET - SPECTATEURS ADMIRANT UNE DANSEUSE – Estimate: USD 305,360-458,040 – Sold $296,962
