This steely-eyed boy dressed in ceremonial Albanian military uniform was the son of Sulayman Pasha al-Faransawi. The latter had been born in France as Octave-Joseph-Anthelme Sève, served under Napoleon, then moved to Egypt to help modernize its army. He eventually converted to Islam, changed his name, and married a Greek woman. This portrait of their son communicates the family’s status at the top of Egyptian society; the boy, attended by a Nubian holding a rifle, sits ramrod straight and prepares to draw his sword. Lewis reached Egypt in 1841 and remained for nearly a decade to record the region’s dress, architecture, and customs. An earlier version of this portrait, inscribed 1848, shows the attendant with a horsehair whisk instead of a peacock-feather fan.
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Title:Iskander Bey and His Servant
Artist:John Frederick Lewis (British, London 1804–1876 Walton-on-Thames)
Sitter:Iskandar Bey (Mohamed el Mahdy) (Egyptian, born 1836)
Date:ca. 1848
Medium:Watercolor and gouache (bodycolor) over graphite
Dimensions:Sheet: 20 in. × 14 1/2 in. (50.8 × 36.8 cm)
Classification:Drawings
Credit Line:Bequest of Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, 2019
Accession Number:2019.138.5
Inscription: Inscribed lower right in gray watercolor (possibly in another hand): "J. F. Lewis / Cairo"
Mrs. M. Fitzpatrick, until 1969, sold at the following; Sotheby's, London, June 19, 1969, lot 77; Thomas Agnew & Sons, Ltd., bought (£900) at the preceding; Private Collection, United States, January 1970; Thomas Agnew & Sons, Ltd.; Private Collection, United States, December 1970; Spink, London, in 1978; The Fine Art Society, London (British), in 1978, sold to the following; Charles and Jayne Wrightsman, to 1986; Jayne Wrightsman (American), from 1986
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "British Vision, 1700–1900: Selections from the Department of Drawings and Prints," December 7, 2023–March 5, 2024.
The Wrightsman Pictures, 2005, cat.107; Lewis 1978, no. 455
Sotheby's, London Fine Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Drawings. Sale catalogue. June 19, 1969, p. 20, lot 77, as "Prince Hassan seated on a divan attended by a servant...," inscribed Cairo, ill.
Thomas Agnew & Sons, Ltd. Ninety-seventh Exhibition of Water-Colours and Drawings. Dealer catalogue, January 19-February 20. 1970, cat. 115, as "Prince Hassan and His Servant".
The Fine Art Society, London Eastern Encounters: Orientalist Painters of the Nineteenth Century. Dealer exh. cat., June 26-July 28. 1978, cat. no. 44, p. 46, as "Iskander Bey and His Servant," illustrated on cover.
Major-General Michael Lewis John Frederick Lewis, R.A., 1805–1876. 1978, cat. no. 455, p. 86, fig. 42, as "Prince Hassan & His Servant," watercolor, 20 1/4 x 15 in.
Spink, London English Watercolours and Drawings. Dealer catalogue. 1978, cat. no. 112, p. 26, as "Prince Hassan and His Servant".
Michelle Verrier The Orientalists: All Colour Paperback. London, 1979, cat. no. 45, as "Prince Hassan and his Servant," n.d., watercolour and gouache, 51.5 x 38.1 cm (Fine Art Society, London).
The Fine Art Society, London Spring '97. May 6 to June 6, 1997, cat. no. 4, p. 4, Lewis's other version of the subject (Private Collection, Cairo, 1978; Fine Art Society, 1997)., ill.
Caroline Williams "John Frederick Lewis: "Reflections of Reality." Muqarnas. Vol. 18, 2001, pp, 233, 236, discusses the servant's identity and the Islamic text on the wall.
Joan DelPlato Multiple Wives, Multiple Pleasures: Representing the Haren, 1800–1875. 2002, note 35, p. 254 (refers to the sitter's headdress, citing Lewis 1978, pl. 42).
Black Victorians: Black People in British Art, 1800-1900. Published in conjunction with the exhibition Black Victorians, Manchester Art Gallery, Oct. 1, 2005-Jan. 6, 2006, and Birmingham Museum of Art, Jan. 28-April 2, 2006. Jan Marsh, 2005, p. 41, in Briony Llewellyn, "Observations and Interpretations: Travellling Artists in Egypt".
Everett Fahy, Pierre Rosenberg, Elizabeth E. Barker, George R. Goldner et al. The Wrightsman Pictures. New York and New Haven, 2005, cat. 107, pp. 375-80, entry by Elizabeth E. Barker, ill.
Peyton Skipwith "The Fine Art Society 1954-2004: A Fifty Year Survey." FAS Now. The Fine Art Society, London, Spring 2007, p. 21, Lewis's other version of the subject (Private Collection, Cairo, 1978; Fine Art Society, London, 1997; Sotheby's, London, June 9, 1998, lot 24; Christie's, London, June 21, 2001, lot 9)., ill.
"Recent Acquisitions, A Selection: 2018–20, Part II Late Eighteenth Century to Contemporary.." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin. Spring 2021, p. 14, ill.
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