A Halted Caravan on the Borders of the Egyptian Desert. Thomas Seddon (1821-1856). Oil on canvas. 10 ½ x 14 inches (26.8 x 35.3 cm). Private collection. Image courtesy of Sotheby’s.
This work is little known because it was never exhibited during Seddon's lifetime but was purchased directly from the artist by William Marshall of Penwortham Hall, Preston, Lancashire, on 5 August 1856. It then descended in the family until it was sold at Sotheby's, London, on April 25, 2023. J. P. Seddon in his book on his brother mentions that in 1856 Thomas "received a commission for a picture of Arab life, from W. Marshall, Esq., of Preston, which he executed in the course of the summer" (151). Seddon finished the picture and sent it to Marshall just before he left for a holiday at St. Enogat, near Dinan, in France. Seddon mentioned it again in a letter of 20 August 1856 to his wife Emmeline: "I have had a very satisfactory letter from Mr. Marshall about his picture. He says, 'I assure you that I was more than pleased. I shewed it to Frith and Egg, who showered praises on it. Frith said, 'Two years ago, I hung one of his pictures in the Academy; but there is great improvement here. Egg, come and look at this picture!' And they studied it over and over again. I am sure that they examined it for ten minutes. I put in a word, and Frith said, 'Oh, there is merit here, which no one but an artist can appreciate.' He particularly pointed out the shadow" (154-55).
This painting is most similar in terms of size, quality, and subject to Dromedary and Arabs at the City of the Dead, Cairo, with the Tomb of Sultan El Barkook in the Background. In both pictures dromedaries figure prominently in the composition. A Halted Caravann contains many more figures, however, both male and female, illustrative of the lifestyles Seddon observed amongst the people living in the Egyptian desert. The inclusion of figures in these pictures, as distinct from Seddon's pure landscapes, make them similar to those of other contemporary British Orientalist painters like J. F. Lewis and William J. Webb(e). Staley has suggested: "Seddon's initial interest was in the exotic and picturesque qualities of the East, rather like those displayed in the works of John Frederick Lewis. It is possible that Seddon's decision to paint in the East was in part inspired by the sensational success of Lewis's Eastern subjects exhibited at the Old Water-Colour Society in 1850 and 1852" (98).
Link to Related Material
Bibliography
The Orientalist Sale. Sotheby's: London (April 25, 2023): lot 6. https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2023/the-orientalist-sale-3/a-halted-caravan-on-the-borders-of-the-egyptian
Seddon, John Pollard. Memoir and Letters of the Late Thomas Seddon, Artist. London: John Nisbet, 1858.
Staley, Allen. The Pre-Raphaelite Landscape. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1973.
Created 27 March 2024