1843
watercolor
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
Door to the Church, Monastery of St. Catherine, Sinai is a 1843 watercolor by John Frederick Lewis, a British Romanticism work, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.
This watercolour painting is called Door to the Church, Monastery of St. Catherine, Sinai. It was created by Lewis, John Frederick in 1843. The painting is part of the Romanticism movement. Lewis visited Sinai in 1843, the same year he may have met Lady Louisa Tenison, who was also travelling there. He included graffiti from travellers and pilgrims on the church door in his work. You can learn more about the style and techniques used in this painting by looking into the movement of Romanticism.
John Frederick Lewis’s 1843 drawing depicts the entrance to the Church of the Monastery of St. Catherine in Sinai, a remote site preserved by its rugged mountain setting. The artist meticulously recorded the accumulated graffiti of pilgrims and travelers carved into the wooden door, reflecting generations of visitors to this sacred location. The work was among several Sinai views included in Lewis’s 1877 sale, suggesting its significance within his oeuvre. The drawing later passed through Christie’s and the Fine Art Society before 1978.
Read the full account in the museum source.
John Frederick Lewis (1804–1876) was an English Orientalist painter. He specialized in Oriental and Mediterranean scenes in detailed watercolour or oils, very often repeating the same composition in a version in each…
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