- 364
John Frederick Lewis, R.A.
Estimate
20,000 - 30,000 GBP
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Description
- John Frederick Lewis, R.A.
- A Study of a Young Girl in Ottoman Dress, reclining
- Watercolour and bodycolour and black chalk over pencil;
signed lower right: JF Lewis - 367 by 534 mm
Provenance
Lieutenant-Colonel W. Hewitt;
sale, London, Sotheby’s, 27 June 1968, lot 161, bt. Eyre;
sale, London, Sotheby’s, 20 April 1972, lot 115, bt. Maas;
with the Maas Gallery, London;
by whom sold to the present owner
sale, London, Sotheby’s, 27 June 1968, lot 161, bt. Eyre;
sale, London, Sotheby’s, 20 April 1972, lot 115, bt. Maas;
with the Maas Gallery, London;
by whom sold to the present owner
Literature
Major-General J.M.H. Lewis C.B.E., John Frederick Lewis, R.A., 1805-1876, London 1978, p. 79, no. 352 (as In the Harem, A Study of a Young Circassian Girl Reclining on a Sofa)
Catalogue Note
This fine watercolour was drawn by John Frederick Lewis during his extended stay in Constantinople. Lewis arrived in the Ottoman capital in late 1840 and was to remain there for over a year. He spent his time exploring the fascinating city and its inhabitants, while making sketches, both in pencil and watercolour, which are remarkable, both for their fluency of execution and their acuteness of observation.
In this drawing Lewis depicts a young girl of no more than ten or eleven years of age. Although the sitter has previously been identified as Circassian in origin, she could, however, be Turkish, Georgian or even European. She wears baggy red trousers (şalvar) and a green coat (entari), whose long sleeves cover her hands. We are grateful to Briony Llewellyn and Charles Newton for their help when cataloguing this work.