Description
This drawing was a study for a larger watercolor (now at the Victoria and Albert Museum) of Mehmet Ali Pasha, considered by many as the "Father of Modern Egypt." While European travel to the Middle East burgeoned during the mid 19th century, John Frederick Lewis was more intrepid than most, living and painting in Cairo for a decade. Upon his return to England in 1851, he astonished London audiences with more than 600 watercolors that conjured an exotic world of sumptuous colors and textures articulated in painstaking detail.
Provenance
(sale, Bill Thomson, London, May/June 1986, no. 37) (1986); (Henry Strachey, London, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland OH) (1986); Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland OH (1986-)
Accession Number
1986.78
Medium
watercolor, gouache, black chalk, and graphite
Dimensions
Sheet: 36.2 x 24.6 cm (14 1/4 x 9 11/16 in.); Secondary Support: 44.3 x 33 cm (17 7/16 x 13 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Credit Line
Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund
Tags
Drawing Neoclassical & Romantic (1751–1850) Watercolor Graphite & Pencil Gouache British
Background & Context
Background Story
John Frederick Lewis (1804-1876) was a British painter known for the precisely observed, richly colored paintings of Middle Eastern subjects that make him one of the most accomplished Orientalist painters of the 19th century. Study for Mehmet Ali Pasha from c. 1844 depicts Mehmet Ali Pasha—the Ottoman governor of Egypt—in the precisely observed, richly colored manner that distinguishes Lewis's best work from the more general Orientalist painting of his contemporaries. Lewis spent many years in Cairo and was known for his precisely observed, richly colored depictions of Middle Eastern life, and the c. 1844 study shows his talent for combining precise observation with rich color in the depiction of Middle Eastern subjects.
Cultural Impact
Study for Mehmet Ali Pasha is important in the history of British Orientalist painting because it demonstrates the precisely observed, richly colored manner that Lewis brought to Middle Eastern subjects as one of the most accomplished Orientalist painters of the 19th century. Lewis's precisely observed, richly colored depictions of Middle Eastern life—based on his many years in Cairo—represent one of the most accomplished traditions in British Orientalist painting, and the c. 1844 study shows this tradition at its most precisely observed.
Why It Matters
Study for Mehmet Ali Pasha is Lewis's precisely observed Orientalist study: the Ottoman governor of Egypt rendered in the richly colored manner of one of the most accomplished Orientalist painters of the 19th century. The c. 1844 study shows the precise observation of Middle Eastern subjects that made Lewis distinctive.
