c1887
64.1×72.4cm, watercolour
Inscription: monogram b.r. ‘FB’
Standard reference: Bunt 185 (Bunt enters this work twice as numbers 185 and 186)
Owner: Ferens Art Gallery, Hull (W58)
Provenance: Paul Turpin, Frank Lewis
Related work: Constantinople: The bridge of boats (D2321) a smaller version of the same scene
Lit: Ferens, Hull, Catalogue of works by Frank Brangwyn, p26
Ill: Brangwyn Portfolio 65. Fine Art Trade Guild print (38x44cm) stamped O*LII*I. C Barman, The Bridge: A Chapter in the History of Building, John Lane, The Bodley Head Ltd 1926 facing p36. Apollo, December 1927
Bunt wrongly identifies the mosque as St Sophia, Constantinople but the work actually portrays the Bridge of Boats and Mosque of Selim. Suleiman’s Mosque (Sellum) is on the Golden Horn and visible from the Galata Koprusu bridge.
Rather irreverent view of the mosque background left behind a colourful display of house fronts, bridge right, water, boats and people. Sky and mosque in muted cream and blue on grey, foreground splashes of orange, pink and yellow.