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The Door of a Cafe at Cairo

Maker John Frederick Lewis (British, 1804 - 1876)

Additional Title(s)

Eastern Coffee Shop

ClassificationsDRAWINGS

Date1866

MediumWatercolor and opaque watercolor with graphite on heavy wove paper

Dimensionsimage: 14 3/4 × 8 5/8 in. (37.5 × 21.9 cm.) sheet: 15 3/4 × 9 in. (40 × 22.9 cm.)

SignedSigned and dated in lower left of recto in watercolor: J. F. Lewis RA / 1866

InscribedSigned and dated in lower left of recto in watercolor: J. F. Lewis RA / 1866

Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. Gilbert Davis Collection

Status

Not on view

Label TextWith their attention to minute detail, Lewis’s Cairo genre scenes present themselves as realistic portrayals of everyday life in the city, where he lived for ten years. However, most of them are imaginative compositions that blend clichés of Middle Eastern culture with his own knowledge of the region, made after the artist’s return to London. This example shows Lewis’s distinctive watercolor technique, which favored the use of pure white and gouache (opaque watercolor) to create a rich image that rivaled the jewel-like depth of oil painting. These materials allowed him to capture tiny details, such as the individual features of the figures at the back of the café, enhancing the sense of observed realitity (2022).

Object number59.55.860

Terms