Not on display
- Artist
- John Frederick Lewis 1805–1876
- Medium
- Oil paint on canvas
- Dimensions
- Support: 886 × 1111 mm
frame: 1245 × 1470 × 90 mm - Collection
- Tate
- Acquisition
- Purchased 1921
- Reference
- N03594
Display caption
Lewis lived in Cairo between 1842 and 1851. While in the Egyptian capital he reportedly lived in extreme luxury. After he returned to Britain he continued to paint Egyptian scenes, such this sun-drenched domestic interior. Lewis’s British wife, Marian, modelled as the sleeping woman. Victorian portrayals of Arab-Islamic life often characterise it as more decadent, mysterious and sensual than life in Europe. Such representations have been criticised as serving western European viewers’ desire for superiority and control over the Middle East.
Gallery label, August 2018
Does this text contain inaccurate information or language that you feel we should improve or change? We would like to hear from you.
Explore
- plants and flowers(2,727)
-
- flower(770)
- clothing and personal items(5,986)
-
- fan(69)
- vase(277)
- actions: postures and motions(9,219)
-
- lying down(384)
- sleeping(314)
- woman(9,056)
You might like
-
Albert Moore A Sleeping Girl
c.1875 -
John Frederick Lewis Study for ‘The Courtyard of the Coptic Patriarch’s House in Cairo’
c.1864 -
Sir John Everett Millais, Bt Hearts are Trumps
1872 -
John Frederick Lewis Edfu, Upper Egypt
1860 -
Frank Holl Hush!
1877 -
Sir William Quiller Orchardson Charles Moxon
1875 -
James Abbott McNeill Whistler Symphony in White, No. 2: The Little White Girl
1864 -
Frederick Yeates Hurlstone A Scene from ‘Gil Blas’
exhibited 1868 -
Sir William Quiller Orchardson The First Cloud
1887 -
Sir William Quiller Orchardson Her First Dance
1884 -
Marcus Stone Il y en a toujours un autre
1882 -
Albert Moore A Garden
1869 -
John Robertson Reid A Country Cricket Match
1878 -
Sir John Everett Millais, Bt Miss Eveleen Tennant
1874 -
Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, Bt The Temple of Love
date not known