The Pipe Bearer

John Frederick Lewis

1859

Watercolour, pencil and bodycolour on paper

38.3 x 21.3 cm

Trustees of the Cecil Higgins Art Gallery (The Higgins Bedford)

There is no mistaking the dignity and proud bearing of this so-called servant as he steps through the doorway, from the lightly evoked Middle Eastern background, through shafts of light. Is Lewis questioning the stratifications of this (and our) society, and the preconceptions involved? See Emily Weeks on the way that Lewis and other Orientalists challenged "the organisations of two cultures that are, perhaps, not so very different after all" (32). — Jacqueline Banerjee

  • Orientalist painters
  • Review of "John Frederick Lewis: Facing Fame"

    • Image kindly provided by the Watts Gallery, for purposes of reviewing their exhibition, linked above. [Click on the image to enlarge it and mouse over the text for links.]