A camel in a crowded street, Cairo

Frederick Goodall's works proved popular throughout Europe in his own lifetime. His talent was recognised from a young age; and by 1852 he was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy in London. He visited Egypt for the first time in 1858, where he shared a studio with Carl Haag in Cairo. The present lot, completed in 1861, is a product of that first excursion. The orient captured his magination. Whilst he frequently painted pictures depicting historic moments, such as the flooding of the Nile, and biblical narratives such as the Finding of Moses, the present lot shows how his imagination was equally excited by everyday scenes before him during his travels. Every part of this bustling Cairo street is carefully recorded and delivered to the viewer, framed underneath an archway which draws the onlooker's eye into the image, and their imagination into the action itself.