TURKEY - MELLING - ISTANBUL - "General view of CONSTANTINOPLE, taken from Boulgourlou Mountain above Scutari". 1819. Etching engraved by PILLEMENT and finished by DUPARC, after Antoine Ignace MELLING (1763-1831). Proof with the letter, on wove paper. Plate from the suite "Voyage pittoresque de Constantinople et des rives du Bosphore d'après les dessins de M. Melling, architecte de l'Empereur Selim III, et dessinateur de la Sultane Hadidge sa sœur". Margins. View of Istanbul from Bulgurlu Hill in Üsküdar. In the foreground, two Western European men, one of whom is most likely the author himself, converse with Ottomans. 65 x 99 cm. Condition B/C (trace of original median vertical fold, some light foxing and traces of insolation, rare short marginal tears). Born in Lorraine in 1763, artist and traveler Antoine Ignace Melling trained as an architect and painter. At the age of 19, he travelled to Constantinople as a member of the Russian ambassador's retinue. After completing several commissions for Hatice Sultan, sister of Selim III, including the renovation of her palace at Ortakeï, Melling was appointed architect to the sultan in 1795. This position gave him the privilege of observing the Ottoman court, and during the eighteen years he spent there, he produced numerous detailed drawings of the sultan's palaces, Ottoman society, and Constantinople and its surroundings. A year after his return to Paris in 1803, Melling published a prospectus for the "Voyage pittoresque", the first thirteen issues of which were published in 1809. He completed the engravings for this work in 1819.