View on the Nile near Cairo. Thomas Seddon (1821-1856). Watercolour over graphite, heightened with gouache.7 9/16 x 14 1/16 inches (19.2 x 35.7 cm). Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession no. 2013.75. Reproduced by permission of the Metropolitan Museum.
The inspiration for this scene dates from Seddon's visit to Egypt in 1853 and 1854. In May 1854 Seddon and Holman Hunt left Cairo to travel ultimately to Jerusalem. They travelled down the eastern branch of the Nile on a diabeyah to Damietta, where early on during the course of this voyage Seddon executed the watercolour sketch for this composition. After he returned to London in January 1855 from his trip to the Middle East he showed the works he had executed during his trip to John Ruskin who reportedly told him: "Before I saw these, I never thought it possible to attain such an effect of tone and light without sacrificing truth of colour" (qtd. in Warrell 211).
Seddon also showed his work to his friend and mentor Ford Madox Brown. Brown, in his diary entry for January 16, 1855, recalled their first meeting upon Seddon's return where he was unimpressed with the progress Seddon had made:
Yesterday Seddon came back after more than 20 months of absence, looking thinner & genteeler than ever & in high spirit. I went with him to Kentishtown leaving my work just begun. His pictures are cruelly P.R.B.'d. I was very sorry to see he made less than no progress. The places are not well selected nor addapted & the high finish is too obtrusive. However they present quantities of drawing & truthfulness seldom surpassed but no beauty, nothing to make the bosom tingle. Could I but have seen them in progress – I will do all I can to make him improve them yet, but it is late. [117]
It had been Madox Brown who had suggested to Seddon prior to his leaving for Egypt that he should make sketches and then paint his pictures in the studio once back in England. This is what appears to have happened here and this particular watercolour was painted in Seddon's studio in London some time in 1855 based on the earlier sketch in a private Canadian collection. The scene is identical but the watercolour at the Metropolitan Museum is more finished and the palette is completely different from the sketch as Seddon has changed the time of day to be closer to sunset rather than dusk. To the left centre of the composition can be seen a walled village and a prominent cluster of palm trees is located on a promontory in the river. The architecture of Cairo is seen in the right distance. A number of diabeyahs are shown sailing on the Nile.
It is unknown whether this could possibly be one of a group of at least nine watercolours that Seddon showed in his semi-public exhibition held at his studio, No. 14 Berners Street in London, between March 17-June 3, 1855.
Bibliography
Brown, Ford Madox. The Diary of Ford Madox Brown. Ed, Virginia Surtees. New Haven and London: Yale University press, 1981.
Important British Pictures. London: Sotheby's (July 4, 2012): lot 191. https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2012/old-master-british-drawings-sale-l12040/lot.191.html
View of the Nile near Cairo. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Web. 29 March 2024.
Warrell, Ian. Ruskin, Turner and the Pre-Raphaelites. Ed. Robert Hewison. London: Tate Gallery Publications, 2000, cat. 195. 211.
Watercolours & Portrait Miniatures. Sotheby's (14 June 2001): lot 302. https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2005/watercolours-portrait-minatures-l05171/lot.302.html
Created 29 March 2024