John Frederick Lewis, R.A.

John Feetham; his sale, Christie’s, 27 May 1895, lot 81 as ‘Waiting for the Ferry: on the Nile’, bought Vokins
Thomas Agnew & Sons, London, stock number no. 26783
Purchased from the above by the father of the present owner on 1 February 1966; thence by descent

Newcastle, Laing Art Gallery, John Frederick Lewis R.A., 1971, no. 77
Manchester, University of Manchester, Whitworth Art Gallery, on loan since 2006

John Michael Hardwicke Lewis, John Frederick Lewis R.A. 1805-1876, 1978, no. 580, p. 94

The sheet is laid down. The colours are strong throughout (fresher and the detail sharper than the catalogue illustration conveys). Some faint discoloration to areas of cloud on the left side and in the reflection in water. The work appears in excellent overall condition, clean and ready to hang. Held under glass in a gilt wood frame with a cream mount.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
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."

Two men and their camels on the east bank of the Nile, wait in readiness to cross by ferry (just seen on the extreme right) to the western side. In the background, glimpses of the columns and pylons of an ancient Egyptian temple - identifiable, from the just-visible Colonnade of Amenhotep III, as that of Luxor – locate the scene in real geographical space.  Yet, unlike his slightly older friend and fellow Orientalist painter, David Roberts, Lewis places centre stage, not imposing ancient ruins, but the present day inhabitants of rural Egypt, engaged in everyday activity. Lewis’s camels, however, one couched, the other standing, are anything but unremarkable: bedecked in an array of accurately depicted rugs, saddle-bags and tasselled head-collars, their strange physical characteristics are observed with an intensity that draws the viewer into the space beside them.

By 1859 Lewis had won widespread acclaim for the meticulous observation and jewel-like colours of his portrayals of Eastern life, among them several in which camels and their Bedouin masters, ‘marvellous in execution’ as one critic expressed it, are the centre of attention. His tour de force in this genre was A Frank Encampment in the Desert of Mount Sinai (SPWC, 1856, no.134; now Yale Center for British Art), praised by the influential Victorian critic, John Ruskin, for its microscopic attention to detail. He enthusiastically encouraged his readers to examine with a magnifying glass ‘the eyes of the camels, and he will find there is as much painting beneath their drooping fringes as would, with most painters, be thought enough for the whole head’ (Academy Notes, 1856). Three years later, having relinquished his Presidency of the Water-Colour Society in order to gain entry to the Royal Academy, and newly elected as an Associate, Lewis exhibited there his larger oil version of the present watercolour (RA, 1859, no.135; current location unknown). Exchanging the white heat of the Sinai desert for the more verdant banks of the Nile, this was Lewis’s first exhibit to draw on his experience of Upper Egypt, gained during a journey in 1850. Perhaps surprisingly, in view of the popularity of the Nile journey at that time, this seems to have been his sole trip south, during the whole of the nearly ten years that he lived in Egypt. As in Sinai, Lewis made numerous sketches of the local people, remarkable for their acute observation and lack of condescension, often in conjunction with but never dominated by the ancient ruins around them. One such is A Study of an Arab with Two Camels (private collection), which must be the basis for both the present watercolour and the exhibited oil.

Painting near identical compositions first in watercolours and then in oils became a pattern in Lewis’s working life from the mid 1850s. It seems that the success of his exhibited oils created a demand for similar, less expensive versions, enabling Lewis to broaden his client base. It is not known to whom Lewis sold the present work, but its first recorded owner, John Feetham, a business man who owned a fine collection of Victorian watercolours, was typical of the kind of middle-class, self-made client for whom such works were intended.