Interior of a School in Cairo 

John Frederick Lewis painted this oil on panel titled ‘Interior of a School in Cairo’, during a long stay in that city, sometime after 1851. Here we see the artist’s detailed observation of Islamic culture. But this wasn't straightforward representation. Lewis was part of a tradition of Orientalist painting, through which European artists depicted the ‘exotic’ Middle East, North Africa, and Asia. The way he carefully renders the architecture, the clothing, and even the facial features, contributes to the construction of an image of Cairo as a place of ancient tradition, of Islamic piety, and perhaps even, in its apparent idleness, of backwardness. How do we know this? By studying the history of Western attitudes to the East, by reading travellers' accounts, by looking at other paintings of the period, and ultimately by understanding how museums and galleries played a role in shaping the worldview of the European public.