Abdullah Freres
Court photographers to the Sultans, the three Abdullah brothers established the foremost
photographic enterprise in Ottoman Istanbul. Given both the aesthetic and technical quality of their photographs, their prominence was clearly well-deserved. A review of their work reveals a rich and diverse array of subjects, including intimate, posed portraits, sweeping panoramic scenes of Istanbul and environs, scenes of major thoroughfares, quiet residential streets and major mosques and other notable structures. This photograph is taken in the oldest cemetery in Istanbul, founded in the 14th century, in the Üsküdar neighborhood. Formerly called the Scutari Cemetery but now the Karacaahmet, this cemetery is thought to contain the remains of a million people, and contains sections dedicated to 12 different religious faiths. This image is striking for its spontaneous depiction of these two, living mourners against the inert, weathered and typically
disordered monuments to the dead.