The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 27, 2024

Study for Mehmet Ali Pasha

Study for Mehmet Ali Pasha

c. 1844
(British, 1805–1876)
England, 19th century
watercolor, gouache, black chalk, and graphite
Sheet: 36.2 x 24.6 cm (14 1/4 x 9 11/16 in.); Secondary Support: 44.3 x 33 cm (17 7/16 x 13 in.)
Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund 1986.78
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

Lord Elphinstone, governor of Madras, described this drawing in an 1845 letter as "the best, and in fact, the only good likeness [of Mehmet Ali Pasha] I have seen, and I saw it within a quarter of an hour of leaving the original."

Description

This drawing was a study for a larger watercolor (now at the Victoria and Albert Museum) of Mehmet Ali Pasha, considered by many as the "Father of Modern Egypt." While European travel to the Middle East burgeoned during the mid 19th century, John Frederick Lewis was more intrepid than most, living and painting in Cairo for a decade. Upon his return to England in 1851, he astonished London audiences with more than 600 watercolors that conjured an exotic world of sumptuous colors and textures articulated in painstaking detail.
  • 1986
    (sale, Bill Thomson, London, May/June 1986, no. 37)
    1986
    (Henry Strachey, London, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland OH)
    1986-
    Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland OH
  • Turner, Evan H. "The Year in Review for 1986." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 74, no. 2 (1987): 38-79. Mentioned: p. 72, no. 159 25159974
    Lemonedes, Heather. British Drawings: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Exh. Cat. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2013. Mentioned: pp. 86-87, 146, no. 28; Reproduced: p. 87
  • British Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art . The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 10-May 26, 2013).
    The Birth and Flowering of British Romantic Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 1-July 22, 1990).
    Year in Review for 1986. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 4-March 15, 1987).
  • {{cite web|title=Study for Mehmet Ali Pasha|url=false|author=John Frederick Lewis|year=c. 1844|access-date=27 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1986.78