Turkish Sultan before the Hippodrome (detail)
by COECKE VAN AELST, Pieter, Woodcut, 295 x 831 mm (entire woodcut)
Coecke van Aelst had made drawings in Constantinople that were intended for tapestry projects made for the Ottoman Sultan, Suleyman the Magnificent. These are preserved in a series of woodcuts “Ces moeurs et fachons de faire de Turcz,” published posthumously by his wife in 1553. The woodcuts are interesting mostly for their historical and topographical features.