The Grandchildren of Ali Pascha.

Dupré, Louis. Dupré, Louis. Ismaël & Mehemet. "ISMAÊL, Bey et mEHEMET, Pascha. Fils de Veli, Pascha de Thessalie, et Petits- fils d'Ali -Tebebeleu, Visir de Janina." Paris "Imprimerie de Dondey-Dupré, Rue St Louis, No 46, Au Marais." 1825-37
Coloured lithograph of the grandchildren of Ali Pascha of Joannina from Louis Dupré's " Voyage â Athènes et â Constantinople...". Original hand colour; verso blank; blind stamp of Dupré as issued.
The portrait shows the two young men seated on a divan, in fur trimmed coats and wearing turbans each holding a chibouque, the long stemmed turkish tobacco pipe.

Dupré, arrived in Corfu at the beginning of March 1820, whilst there he took a great interest in the Suliote heroes living in exile upon the island since Ali Pasha's conquest of the Suliotes in 1804. One of the first portraits he drew was of Photo Picos, who was surprised that Dupré knew his history.
Ironically the next portraits Dupré drew were whilst visiting Ali Pasha, in Joannina. Thomas Maitland had encouraged Dupré to show Ali his drawings, it is reported that on seeing the portrait of Photo Picos Ali exclaimed "Oh, I know him, He is one of my enemies!" Maitland suggested Ali accept the portrait as a gift, when the offer was only answered with a smile, Maitland, in an effort to maintain relations suggested Dupré draw the portrait of Ali's grandsons, which was to be the first of a number of drawings of members of Ali's household , including the Pasha himsef.
Whilst there negotiations were in progress concerning the fate of Parga.
On returning to Corfu, he drew the famous image of Nicolo Pervoli standing by the canon pointing across to the mainland.

Dupré left Corfu on the 23rd of March just a few days before 4000 exiles from Parga were to arrive in the Ionian islands. Image bright and clean; dampstain to extreme left edge of paper

Louis Dupré [1789-1837].

A pupil of Jacques-Louis David in Paris, Louis Dupré became resident in Rome and was appointed official painter to the prince Jerome Bonaparte, in 1811.

In 1819, Louis Dupré took a six-month tour of Greece and Turkey, accompanied by three affluent English gentlemen, Messrs Hyett, Vivian, and Hay. He was received by the French consul Fauvel in Athens and introduced into Greek society allowing him to make his paintings of important personalities of the time, both in Athens and in Joannina where he portayed Ali Pascha, his family and attendants. He continued to Thessaly and from there he sailed to Constantinople, where he made the acquaintance of Prince Michael Soutzo of Moldavia with whom he returned to Italy via Romania.
Upon arriving in Constantinople his companions left quickly, frightened by an outbreak of the plague. Dupré, however, remained and completed a series of watercolors. Nevertheless, the Englishmen funded Dupré's entire trip in exchange for these drawings, of which the artist also made duplicates that he exhibited at the Salon of 1824.
His work " Voyage â Athènes et â Constantinople"was published in 10 livraisons, in Paris in 1825 through to 1837, consisting of 40 lithographs: portraits, costumes and views of Athenian antiquities, based upon these drawings.
[Colnaghi of London pirated 2 of the portraits of Ali Pascha and published them before Dupré.]

The work became synonymous with the Greek War of Independence. The image of Mitropolos, holding the Greek standard symbolizes the Greek victory.

Louis Dupré's" Voyage à Athènes et à Constantinople "is a fascinating example of a travel book so contradictory it begs to be read against the grain. Taking the form of a costume album, it is based on notes and drawings made during the artist's voyage in the Ottoman Empire in 1819. However, the book was produced in France from 1825 to 1839, after the outbreak of Greek insurrections against Ottoman rule in 1821, a popular cause in France. This contextual gap between the moment of travel and the moment of production accounts for the work's contradictory aspects. It is overtly philhellenic, taking the side of the Greek rebels in their conflict with the Ottomans, seeing in the insurgence a revival of ancient ideals and culture. Yet key aspects of the work, particularly its costume images, tug against and undermine its underlying turcophobia and, ultimately, its nationalist, essentialist message of Hellenic regeneration. Dupré's colorful plates are striking and even hauntingly memorable, arresting the viewer's attention. His close-up depiction of boldly posed figures introduces an ambiguity into his travel account that belies its ideological frame. In particular, the costume images, resembling Ottoman-produced costume albums, implicitly celebrate a notion of empire-as-diversity that contradicts Dupré's nationalist text.
[Elizabeth Fraser, Ottoman Costume and Inclusive Empire: Louis Dupré in Ottoman Greece .Fashioning Identities symposium, Hunter College, NYC, October 2013]u
Colas 916; Lipperheide 1434; Droulia 901; Navari/ Blackmer: 517; Sotheby's/Blackmer 559 360 by 437mm (14¼ by 17¼ inches)Image including title and blindstamp.   ref: 1891  €2000