John Frederick Lewis (London 1805 – Walton-on-Thames 1876) English Painter. He studied art under his father who was a distinguished engraver, Christian Frederick Lewis. He was trained under Sir Thomas Lawrence as an animal painter. He exhibited in the British Institute in 1820 and the British Academy in the following year. He visited Switzerland and Italy in 1824. in 1932-34, he lived Spain and Morocco. As a result he published a series of lithographs on Moorish architecture, that established him as an serious artist. In 1837, he visited Paris and Rome. In 1840, he went to Greece. Turkey and the Middle East. In 1841 he settle down in Cairo, at the Egypt was part of the Ottoman Empire. He lived there for 10 years an adopted an Egyptian ways of life, even dressed in tradition costumes and turben. During his stay, he painted the Egyptian ways of life, with authenticity. In 1947 he married to Marian Harper, who appeared in many of his painting dressing in ‘Turkified European’, living amongst the Egyptian. When he return to England, he became the president of the Old Watercolour, a post he held for 8-9 years. He became a full member of the Royal Academy and exhibited there regularly. In 1876 he died in Walton-on-Thames at the age of 72.

1. First created 18 Apr 2011. Version 3.0 9 Feb 2019. Daparro. London.
John Frederick
Lewis
Life in the Hareem (detail) 1858 by John Frederick Lewis.
Mirage of the Orient

2. In the 18C, stimulated by Romanticism’s
taste for the exceptional and the exotic,
painters began to travel to Turkey, the Middle
East and to North Africa. Orientalist painters
began to depict contemporary life under the
colonial and sultanic rules in these Islamic
countries.
The movement was particular popular in
France. Eugene Delacroix (1798-1863) was
one of the first orientalist and Jean-Leon
Gerome (1824-1904) was one of the last.
The British Orientalist paintings was accepted its
own days as a peculiarly truthful form of art, as it
disavowed flagrant fantasy differed from some of
the well-known examples of the French variety.
One of the best-known British orientalist painters
was John Frederick Lewis, who lived in Cairo for
ten years.
Jean Leon Gerome
Eugene Delacroix
Orientalism

3. John Frederick Lewis
John Frederick Lewis (1804 – 1876)
Lewis was born in London, a son of an noted
engraver. He gained early recognition as a
painter of animals and sporting subject.
Following his trip to Spain and Morocco in 1832-
34, he published a series of sketches of Moorish
architecture, that enhanced his status as an
artist.
Lewis Chronology
1826 exhibited 14 in Royal Academy.
1835 Published drawings of the Alhambra.
1847 Married Marian Harper aged 20.
1853 Royal Scottish Academy acquired 64 of his paintings.
1855 Elected as president of the Old Watercolour Society.
1865 Elected a full member of the Royal Academy
1876 Died on Aug 1876.

4. Highland Hospitality, 1832
An early period painting, painted at the age of 28.

5. Escorial, 1833
One of his architectural painting, possibly painted during his 1863-34 Spain and Morocco trip.

6. Easter Day at Rome, 1840
In 1840, Lewis travelled to Italy, en route to Cairo.

7. Note the oriental dress and the sword. The photo was
taken around 1860s when Lewis was in England
In 1840-41, Lewis travelled via Italy,
Greece and Turkey to Cairo, where he
remained for next 10 years. He dressed
as a ‘Turkified European’ and lived in an
elegant Ottoman house completed with
camel and gazelle in the courtyard,
adapting himself to the Oriental life. Lewis
made 600 watercolours and drawings
during his stay and collected oriental
costumes and artefacts. These became
the raw material for his later paintings.
“Being an English gentleman, however,
Lewis could not simply follow the French
tradition of eroticizing these women
because the conservative Victorian
public would have rejected his paintings
as immoral. He paintings sold easily
and for record sums. … The challenge
was to please the viewing and buying
public, while also exploring and
satisfying his own interest in the exotic
imagery of the East.” Elizabeth Malcolm 1997.
The Cairo years, 1840 – 1851

8. A lovely watercolour sketch, he was the President of the Old Watercolour Society.
Turkish Magnate, 1840

9. Encampment in Sinai, 1842
After the description on painting by Emily Weeks.
“In this work, arguably one of the greatest ‘reality effect’ of his career, Lewis again,
manoeuvres through political and social geographies in order to establish the cultural
differences, to cross boundaries and ultimately to cross culture themselves.
Here Lewis portrayed a society of patriarchal power. In control.

10. Encampment in Sinai (Detail – Camels), 1842

11. Encampment in Sinai (Detail – Encampment), 1842

12. Mehmet Ali Pasha (Detail ), 1844

13. Hhareem Life, 1857
In 1847 he married Marian
Harper, in Egypt. On the right is
a portrait of her.

14. The Hhareem, c1849-50
One of the Lewis’ earliest harem painting

15. The Painter’s House, c1850-51

16. While he was in Cairo, he did many
sketches in watercolour. He also
collected costumes. These were
used for his later paintings.
Egyptian sketches & Return to Britain
Lew is returned to England in 1851
and settled in Walton-on-Thames.

17. Roman Pilgrims, 1845.

18. Noonday Halt, 1853.

19. Lewis was elected as the president of
the Old Watercolour Society in 1855.
Armenian Lady, Cairo. 1854.

20. Marian Harper, Lewis’ wife, was
twenty-three his junior. He often
used her as model in his painting.
The woman dressed in green on
the right was his wife.
Hhareem Life, Constantinople. 1854.

21. Hhareem Life, Constantinople (detail). 1854.

22. A self portrait.
Afternoon Prayer. 1857.

23. Life in Hhareem Life. c1858.
Here Lewis painted the same
inclining woman as he did in
1854, even dressed in the same
costumes.

24. Kibab Shop. 1860.

25. He became a member of the Royal Academy in 1865.
Edfou, Upper Egypt. 1860.

26. After the description on painting by Emily Weeks.
“The carpet seller, possibly a self-
portrait, sits discernibly, with a billowing
folds of his blue trouser, clipped beard
and white wrapped turban. Solid and
pyramidal, he faces the viewer in an
almost confrontational posture,
reinforced by the firm grip he has on the
sword resting across his thighs. As if he
is asking “What do you make of me?”.
His red slippers are turned upward and
outward. Curled orange peels lie
scattered about at his feet, beside
shards of a broken blue and white dish
and to the right, a sleeping dog. Behind
him is a white cloth isolated him from the
merchants and shoppers in the market,
as if he is saying “I am different from the
rest.”
Carpet Seller, 1860 (Self Portrait)

27. Carpet Seller, 1860 (Self Portrait)

28. Patriarch’s House, c1864

29. Patriarch’s House, c1864

30. To John Frederick Lewis, the harem was
not just a place of orgies and seduction but
it was also a female space, a place where
women talk and relax, a place to meet other
women or a place to play with the birds.
Caged Doves, 1864

31. Lewis became a member of the Royal Academy in 1865.Interior of School, 1864

32. Commentator on the Koran, 1869

33. Doubtful Coin, 1869

34. Doubtful Coin, 1869

35. An Intercepted Correspondence, 1869
This one similar to the earlier version painted during 1849-50.

36. Prayer of Faith, 1872

37. Bezestein Bazaar (Detail), 1872

38. The Reception, 1873

39. The Reception (Detail), 1873
This is one of his late period
painting. He portrayed women in
the relaxed in their own
surroundings

40. The Reception (Detail), 1873

41. Lewis was trained as an animal
painter, under the portraitist Sir
Thomas Lawrence. He also kept
a gazelle as a pet in Cairo.
The Reception – Detail, 1873

42. Indoor Gossip, 1873

43. Outdoor Gossip, 1873

44. Mid-Day Meal, 1875

45. Mid-Day Meal, 1875
The composition of the painting
is very interesting with
courtyard clearly demanding
our attention, giving him the
opportunity to show off the
exterior architecture façade as
well as the interior with a group
of patriarchs giving a mid-day
meal.
One trait of his painting is the
extraordinary attention to the
details. It is always delightful
to explore his canvas to
discover details objects, the
gestures and the happenings
depicted.
The painting was painted at the
end of his life.

46. Mid-Day Meal, 1875

47. Mid-Day Meal, 1875

48. Mid-Day Meal, 1875

49. He died in August 1876.
John Frederick Lewis was a passionate
objective painter, fond of including many
realistic details. His paintings were
records of a traveller and an observer of
different societies and cultures of the 19C
world.
A Cairo Bazaar, 1875

50. Music – Handel – Arrival of The Queen of Sheba.
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51. English Paintings