Saunderson Walker

Biography

About the artist

Saunderson Walker (England, active life ca. 1840) came from a shipping family. He was an invalid in pursuit of health during a voyage in the Mediterranean Levant and the Black Sea on board of the 325 ton brig MacLeod 1839-1840. He wrote an extremely detailed journal of a voyage to the Ottoman Empire and described his adventures ashore in numerous cities there and in the Middle East, averaging about 3 pages per day, but with much more at the most interesting sights. It was written after his return to England and was published ca. 1842. He devotes about sixty pages to Constantinople and its surroundings before setting off for Smyrna (Izmir) on the steamer Stambool. After about 45 pages on Smyrna he set off again, visiting Rhodes, Cyprus, Beirut, Palestine, Egypt, then back to Smyrna and Constantinople for another long stay. After an excursion through the Black Sea to Odessa and he set off for home, departing on 21 February 1840 and arriving in Falmouth on 19 April. Walker gives a very detailed account of sights, events and people, visiting the bazars, the Seraglio, mosques, baths, a slave market, dances and religious ceremonies. An extensive and remarkably detailed picture of life in the Ottoman Empire in 1839-1840.

0 Related artworks for sale

All artworks