August Finke

The composition is based on an engraving, The Mosque of Buyuk Djami, Scutari, from Constantinople and the Scenery of the Seven Churches of Asia Minor (published in 1839-40), the famous illustrated travelogue by the Reverend Robert Walsh and the artist Thomas Allom. While Walsh provided the commentary, Allom drew and engraved the images for the plates.

Today known as the Mihrimah Sultan Mosque, on Üsküdar’s waterfront, it was built by the imperial architect Sinan between 1543 and 1548. It is the earlier of the two Friday mosques in Istanbul commissioned by Mihrimah Sultan, daughter of Süleyman the Magnificent and wife of the Grand Vizier Rüstem Pasha. In the foreground is the Fountain of Ahmed III.