(Masi 1854–1929 San Remo)
Sunday Promenade in Göksu, signed F. Zonaro, oil on canvas, 42 x 70.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private Collection, Italy.

Catalogued and illustrated in:
Erol Makzume, The Sultan’s Italian Court Painter Fausto Zonaro, Polistampa ed., 2021, p. 136.

We are grateful to Erol Makzume for kindly confirming the authenticity on the basis of a high-resolution photograph.
It will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné edited by Erol Makzume and Cesare Trevigne.

Zonaro painted various features of Istanbul. He was particularly fascinated by the city’s sites, with his landscapes including views of fountains, graveyards and many different districts of the city. Thanks to the last Ottoman Sultan Abdülhamid II, who appointed him painter to his court, Zonaro was able to paint in the city undisturbed.

The present lot depicts the freshwater stream of Göksu on the Asian shores of the Bosphorus. It was a popular resort where the people of Istanbul came to relax and socialize. In the foreground, ferrymen have disembarked their passengers on the river’s edge. The Asian freshwater stream gave Western visitors an excellent opportunity to observe Ottoman life. Zonaro shows a peaceful vision of Ottoman life, away from the turmoil of the capital. The Gösku river is among Zonaro’s most exhibited and published subjects. A work depicting a similar subject, "Wedding on the Sweet Waters of Asia on the Göksu River", was sold at this auction house in 2017.