1834
watercolor
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
Guerfeh Hassan - Nubia is a 1834 watercolor by Frederick Catherwood, a British Romanticism work, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.
This watercolor painting shows a desert landscape with ancient ruins in the foreground. The ruins feature large stone blocks with carved figures and hieroglyphics. In the background, a body of water stretches out, meeting a mountain range under a light sky. The artist has used a range of earth tones to depict the scene, from the sandy beige of the desert floor to the weathered brown of the stone blocks. The overall effect is one of a serene and timeless moment, frozen in the past. The artist's attention to detail and use of color bring this ancient scene to life. If you're interested in learning more about the Romanticism movement, you might want to explore the works of other artists who were part of this movement.
The watercolour drawing depicts the rock-cut Temple of Ramesses II at Girf Husayn, a site later submerged beneath Lake Nasser. Created in 1834 during the Westcar expedition, the work records the temple's appearance before its inundation. According to Rodney Searight, the piece was sold at Sotheby's on 12 October 1977.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Frederick Catherwood was an English artist, architect and explorer, best remembered for his meticulously detailed drawings of the ruins of the Maya civilization.
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