On the Banks of the Nile, Upper Egypt

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Artist: John Frederick Lewis (British, 1805–1876)
Medium: Oil on panel
Size: 24 1/2 × 29 1/4 inches (62.2 × 74.3 cm)
Museum: Yale Center for British Art
Rights: CC0 — no rights reserved

Although Middle Eastern scenes had been part of John Frederick Lewis’s repertoire since his return from Egypt in 1851, recent political events may have been a catalyst for painting and exhibiting this vivid and sensuous evocation of the Nile. In 1875, Isma’il Pasha, the Khedive (ruler) of Egypt, went bankrupt and was forced to sell his shares in the Suez Canal, an eleven-mile waterway linking the Mediterranean and the Red Sea that had opened six years earlier.

British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli purchased the shares without consulting Parliament, effectively ensuring British control over Egypt. Given his sympathetic attitude toward Egypt, Lewis likely disapproved of Britain’s aggressive imperial policy. In any case, his meticulous depiction of lush vegetation, birds, animals, and local people suggests a deep affection for Egypt. Painted in the year that Lewis died, and one of his last works, the picture can also be interpreted as a valedictory gesture.

Text: Yale Center for British Art.