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Street with the Mausoleum and Mosque of the Sultan al-Ghuri, Cairo

Maker

(artist)
1805-1876

Title

Date of Production

1841 - 1851

Medium

graphite with some stumping, watercolour and bodycolour on wove paper, laid down

Dimensions

Height: 37.5 cm
Width: 54 cm

Accession Number

D.1952.RW.3051

Mode of Acquisition

Robert Clermont Witt, bequest, 1952

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords

bazaars

Label Text

While Lewis lived in Cairo he often sketched the city. He produced several watercolours of the souq (market) that lay within the 16th-century Sultan al-Ghūrī mosque complex, a popular subject among European artists. As in the nearby drawing of an interior, Lewis accented samples of colour, textures, architectural details and people, leaving other elements unfinished. The market was a space of social encounters and exchanges, where many of the Arabian Nights stories began, making it an evocative narrative backdrop for Orientalist art.

Provenance

Walker’s Galleries (London) by 1939; purchased there by Sir Robert Witt, London (1872-1952), n.d.; Witt Bequest 1952

Exhibition History

Drawing on Arabian Nights, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 22/02/2023-04/06/2023

Life, Legend, Landscape - Victorian Drawings and Watercolours, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 17/02/2011-15/05/2011

The Witt Collection - Four centuries of drawings, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 03/04/2004-20/06/2004 ...More

J.F. Lewis R.A. (1805-1876) - Painter of the Desert and Harem, Guildford, 1977

John Frederick Lewis R.A., Newcastle Festival, 1971

British Artists in Mediterranean Lands, Lake District Festival, Kendal, 07/07/1960-23/07/1960 ...Less

Literature

Life, Legend, Landscape - Victorian Drawings and Watercolours, The Courtauld Gallery, 2011
cat. no. 16
ill. on p. 81

Christie's, The Forbes collection of Victorian pictures and works of art, London 19 February 2003
under lot 31

Lyles, Anne and Robin Hamlyn, British watercolours from the Oppé Collection: with a selection of drawings and oil sketches, Tate Gallery, London 1997
p. 226 under no. 96 ...More

Mantegna to Cezanne: Master Drawings from the Courtauld, British Museum, London, 1983
cat. no. 118
ill. on p. 115

Christie's, Important English drawings and watercolours, London 18 March 1980
under lot 125

J.F. Lewis, R.A. (1805-1876): painter of the desert and harem, Guildford House Gallery, 1977
no. 89

The Royal Academy (1837-1901) Revisited, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and elsewhere, 1975 London: The Royal Academy, 1975
p. 96

Blunt, Anthony, Hand-list of the drawings in the Witt Collection, London, 1956
p. 33

Walker's Gallery, London, Catalogue, 1939
no. 79
ill.

The Art Journal, 1877
p. 269 ...Less

Inscriptions

Watermark: Watermark: none.

Inscription: none.

Collector's mark: none.

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