Sir William Blake Richmond, R.A.

Purchased in 1912 from the Fine Art Society by Constance Goetze (wife of the artist Sigismund Goetze)

Purchased in 1986 by a private collector, Melbourne, Australia and thence by descent

New Gallery, London, The Works of Sir William Blake Richmond, Winter 1900-1901, either no. 248 or no. 252

The Fine Art Society, London, Paintings of Italy, Greece and Egypt by William Blake Richmond, March 1912, no. 19

Royal Birmingham Society of Arts, Autumn Exhibition, 1912, no. 116

Helen Lascelles, The Life and Works of Sir W. B. Richmond, special Christmas edition of The Art Annual, 1902, illustrated p. 21

Simon Reynolds, William Blake Richmond – An Artist’s Life, 1842 – 1921, 1995, pp. 350, 356, 358

‘The minarets and towers of Cairo are gilded with a pale gold shimmer. The city is a phantom, it is transparent, it is light all light, but so delicate that every detail is concealed within the soft embracing atmosphere. Nothing looks real – nothing is to be grasped – the city is an unreality…’ (William Blake Richmond, The Silver Chain, 1916, p. 24)

Richmond first visited Cairo in 1885 and was enchanted by the city, making several return visits in the next few years. He was particularly interested by the places of worship and painted the Mosque of Sultan Hassan several times, including a depiction of the interior courtyard (private collection). As his wife later recalled; ‘This was the most Eastern place that Sir William visited, and the tropical heat, the low mud huts, the brilliant moonlight on the palms, the crowds of Arabs, and the primitive way of life, were to him intensely attractive… He stayed some time in Cairo, devoting himself especially to drawing in the mosques and about the environs of the delightful city, not yet spoiled by European barbarians, frequently spending the entire day in one or other of the mosques observing the picturesque crowds of Arabs, negroes and Copts passing from the shadow of the deep doorways and recesses to the full light of the court open to the sky. One has not realised what colour is until the East has been visited.’ (Helen Lascelles, The Life and Works of Sir W. B Richmond, special Christmas edition of The Art Annual, 1902, illustrated p. 21)