Arab School

John Frederick Lewis

1841–51 · Watercolor and gouache (bodycolor) over black chalk on brownish paper · Drawings and Prints

Lewis lived in Cairo for a decade, adopting local dress and customs and making drawings that record aspects of Egyptian life. He took this sheet back to London in 1851 and used it to develop an exhibited watercolor, Interior of a School, Cairo (1865, Victoria and Albert Museum). The artist responds to the routine of a Qur'an classroom, centering his sketch on a boy who prepares to recite for a bearded Hoja or teacher. Lewis describes faces and turbans, but indicates the setting broadly and uses the brown paper–now darkened–to suggest unadorned walls and floor, and to provide a base for quickly brushed costume elements and wood grain of the teacher's desk. In contrast to the artist's elaborately detailed finished watercolors, this study demonstrates his rapid, informal use of the medium.

Artist

John Frederick Lewis

Date

1841–51

Medium

Watercolor and gouache (bodycolor) over black chalk on brownish paper

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Anonymous Gift, 1961