Lot Essay
In the autumn of 1874, North left England with his friend Fred Walker, who was ailing in health, for Algeria, where they intended to spend the winter abroad. H. Alexander described their experience:
'... on Christmas Day the friends arrived in Algiers, in ecstasies over the flowers and fruitful greeness of the land. By 25th February Walker, homesick and foreboding illness, was on his way back to England in the company of friends; but North stayed, and finding the life much to his liking and making great friends with his neighbour, Ali Cherif, he bought a piece of land and designed and built himself a house which he named 'Dar el Ouard', or 'The House of Roses' where he spent several months every year for the following six years'. (H. Alexander, 'John William North, A.R.A., R.W.S.', The Old Water-Colour Society's Club, V, 1927, p. 40)
'... on Christmas Day the friends arrived in Algiers, in ecstasies over the flowers and fruitful greeness of the land. By 25th February Walker, homesick and foreboding illness, was on his way back to England in the company of friends; but North stayed, and finding the life much to his liking and making great friends with his neighbour, Ali Cherif, he bought a piece of land and designed and built himself a house which he named 'Dar el Ouard', or 'The House of Roses' where he spent several months every year for the following six years'. (H. Alexander, 'John William North, A.R.A., R.W.S.', The Old Water-Colour Society's Club, V, 1927, p. 40)