LUDWIG DEUTSCH | THE WATER SELLER

Sale: Sotheby's, London, 16 June 1982, lot 232

Mathaf Gallery, London (purchased at the above sale)

Purchased from the above

Caroline Juler, Najd Collection of Orientalist Paintings, London, 1991, p. 45, cited, p. 51, catalogued & illustrated

Lynne Thornton, Les Orientalistes, Peintres Voyageurs, Paris, 2001, p. 238, catalogued & illustrated

Egypt’s history has long depended on water supply from the Nile. In the nineteenth century, an intricate system of canals and aqueducts supplied Cairo with fresh water, which was dispensed at public wells or sebils throughout the city. However, those who did not have easy access to these fountains, as well as the old and the infirm, had to rely on water sellers to obtain fresh water. These men occupied an important role in Cairene society, especially during periods of drought or when the fountains dried up. Using water sacks made of animal skin or glass, they distributed water door-to-door, as in the present work. As a western artist living in Cairo, Deutsch took a strong interest in local life; water sellers, a popular subject among the Orientalist painters, suited the artist's quest for verisimilitude.