John Frederick Lewis, R.A.

Sir Thomas Devitt, 1^st Bt. (1839-1923);
his executor's sale, London, Christie's, 16 May 1924, lot 22, bt. Leggatt (17 gns.);
with The Leicester Galleries, London

Laid down on a thin card backing. There is a horizontal joining line to the upper half of the sheet, where the two sheets have been joined by the artist. Although some of the more delicate pigments may have softened with time, the overall image is strong. There is some minor surface dirt to the sheet, otherwise the medium remains predominantly strong throughout this large and impressive watercolour. Sold in a carved giltwood frame.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

John Frederick Lewis arrived in Cairo in 1841. He was to stay there for ten years and is considered, along with his near contemporary David Roberts, to be the most important British artist to visit, indeed live in the Middle East.

The watercolours and drawings that he made while there became the foundation of paintings that he exhibited after he returned to London. The present watercolour relates to two works: an oil, entitled A Turkish School in the Vicinity of Cairo, which was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1865 and a watercolour, of the same subject and date, which is now at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.¹ There is another watercolour sketch linked to these works in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.²

Lewis' intriguing title, which refers to a 'Turkish school', might reflect that Egypt, at that time, was nominally under the control of the Sultan of Turkey. When Lewis made his sketches, in the 1840s, there were still a number of Ottoman Turkish-speaking officials in Cairo, who presumably sent their children to such a school.

The present watercolour was once owned by Sir Thomas Devitt, 1^st Bt., who was a ship-owner, a senior partner in the firm of Devitt and Moore, and a founder of the Nautical College, Pangbourne. 

We are grateful to Briony Llewellyn and Charles Newton for their help when cataloguing this lot.  

1. Victoria and Albert Museum (accession number: 68-1890)
2. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (accession number: 61.218.2)