Achille-Constant-Théodore-Emile Prisse d'Avennes
1840
watercolor
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
A Kanja on the Nile at Luxor, with the Temple of Luxor behind is a 1840 watercolor by Achille-Constant-Théodore-Emile Prisse d'Avennes, a Orientalism work, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.
You see a boat, called a Kanja, on the Nile River with the Temple of Luxor in the background. The artist, Prisse d'Avennes, was a traveler and archaeologist, which explains the detail in this painting. He was familiar with the place and its architecture. To learn more about the artist's use of light and shadow, look into the technique of chiaroscuro.
The watercolour depicts a *kanja*, a traditional Nile vessel, moored on the east bank of the Nile near Luxor, with the Temple of Luxor visible in the background. The scene includes an island, Gazirat Saad, and a hill, Gabal Qurnat, beyond which the Colossi of Memnon can be faintly seen among palm trees. The vessel flies a Red Ensign, indicating its British owner, identified as 'J.W.P.' in historical accounts. The work was commissioned by a British traveller during Prisse d'Avennes' stay in Egypt in the late 1830s and early 1840s.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Achille-Constant-Théodore-Émile Prisse d'Avennes was a French archaeologist, Egyptologist, architect and writer.
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