FREDERIC, LORD LEIGHTON, P.R.A. | A NILE WOMAN

Probably given by the artist to H.R.H. The Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII, before 1897;

Christie's, London, 11 June 2002, lot 120 where purchased by Stan Battat

Leonee and Richard Ormond, Lord Leighton, 1975, pp.98, 158, cat.no.161 (untraced) 

Leighton went to Egypt in 1868, the year before the opening of the Suez canal. He travelled as far south as Aswan and painted over forty landscapes. The viceroy Ismail Pasha placed a steamer at Leighton's disposal, probably on the recommendation of Edward, Prince of Wales who was given the present picture - perhaps in thanks for his introduction. Despite the large number of pictures painted in Egypt, Leighton painted only two figurative subjects, the present picture and Eastern Slinger, a a muscular Egyptian bird-scarer which was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1875 (untraced).

Leighton cleverly captured the heat of the last light of the day as the solitary Egyptian woman makes her way home through the sand. The careful rendering of her robes is typical of Leighton and the pose of a woman carrying a water-jar appears in several important later works by the artist, including Captive Andromache of 1886 (Manchester City Art Gallery).