Untitled (Arabs and their Camels by the Fireside, with the Pyramids in the Distance)

The first known American artist to visit India on a painting expedition in the 1880s, Edwin Lord Weeks had already made extensive travels for painting through South America, Egypt, Persia and Morocco. This particular watercolour dates from one of those earlier journeys, through the Arab world. Known for his exquisitely rendered realistic paintings of the Orient, Weeks here captures travellers on a cold desert night, warming themselves by a fire.