Frederick Arthur Bridgman

Private collection, Boston, Massachusetts, since circa 1975
Thence by descent to the previous owner until 2021

This evocative scene was painted during, or just after, Bridgman's first and only trip to Cairo during the winter of 1873-74, a sojourn which inspired a series of paintings in the 1870s based on the copious sketches he had made on the spot and which covered the walls of his room at Cairo's Shepheard's Hotel. The influence of his teacher, Jean-Léon Gérôme, who regularly visited his studio in Paris to lend advice and encouragement, is clearly visible in the present work, not only in the choice of subject matter but in the rigorous academic draughtsmanship.