1850
watercolor
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
Rural Scene in Upper Egypt, on the banks of the Nile is a 1850 watercolor by John Frederick Lewis, a Impressionism work, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.
This watercolor shows a quiet moment by the Nile. It’s a quick sketch, not a finished painting. John Frederick Lewis made it around 1850. The artist left the top unfinished. You can spot a waterwheel part—called a Sakia—used to lift river water for farms when the Nile shrank. Most people don’t know how farmers kept fields alive back then. Check out the Victoria and Albert Museum to see it in person.
The unfinished sketch depicts a scene on the banks of the Nile at Edfou in Upper Egypt, featuring a donkey-operated Sakia, or waterwheel, at the top of the composition. This device was used to lift water from the river for irrigation when water levels were low. The reclining figure in the foreground appears as a reversed version of a figure in other works by the artist from the same location. The work is one of several drawings related to the artist's visit to Upper Egypt in 1850.
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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