Interior of Santa Sophia, Antique Allom Engraving of Hagia Sophia, circa 1850

This original antique steel engraving, Interior of Santa Sophia, is a plate from the second volume of The Turkish Empire Illustrated, published in London by Peter Jackson about 1850. The sheet shows the interior of Hagia Sophia under its great dome, the galleries and the arcades of the nave running away on both sides, suspended lamp rings hanging low over the floor and ranks of worshippers at prayer across the carpets.

The engraving belongs to Peter Jackson's issue of the Allom and Walsh Turkish Empire Illustrated, printed at the Caxton Press in London about 1850 from plates first made for Fisher's Illustrations of Constantinople and its Environs. Allom trained as an architect before he became a topographical draftsman, which is why his buildings are measured rather than merely picturesque, and the London engravers who worked up his drawings were among the leading engravers of the day.

Hagia Sophia is one of the great surviving buildings of late antiquity and the one subject in the volume that needs no introduction to a buyer. J. H. Le Keux was a leading London architectural engraver. This is a steel engraving worked by a named London engraver from Allom's own drawing. Impressions from the series were issued without color, and a sheet that has never been colored later is the one collectors of the series prefer. The publisher's imprint is printed centered beneath the title, and on this sheet it reads for Peter Jackson's London and Paris issue. It frames well on its own over a desk or a chest, and it is equally at home in a group with other Ottoman and Levantine views, where the uniform plate size of the series makes an even wall.

Light uneven toning, browner toward the edges. Marked handling soiling along the left, right and top edges. Scattered light foxing in the margin. All four corners complete.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.