Gezicht op de oase Sakieh in Nubië, met waterput c. 1858 - 1859

Curator: Right, let's turn our attention to this quiet drawing by Willem de Famars Testas, dating from around 1858 or '59. It’s called "Gezicht op de oase Sakieh in Nubië, met waterput"—or, "View of the Sakieh Oasis in Nubia, with a Well". Editor: It’s immediately serene, isn't it? The light feels incredibly gentle. There's something quite poetic about how he captures the stillness. It gives the whole oasis this quiet sense of perseverance. Curator: I agree. The pencil work, combined with pen touches, creates such a sense of lived experience and the every day of a location both familiar and unknown. The architectural elements surrounding the Sakieh contrast interestingly with the natural environment, don’t you think? Editor: Definitely. I keep getting drawn back to that water wheel. Circular forms often suggest continuity, even destiny, within art, but here it speaks of repetitive, perhaps monotonous labor in a landscape that offers both life and hardship. The wheel almost takes on this mythical role as giver of water. Curator: Exactly. There’s this orientalist undercurrent as well – which was quite a strong trend at that time. The exoticism of the far east, of which Egypt and Nubia were both expressions, provided so much fodder for the Western art world. There's also a very strong current of realism at play. Editor: I’m intrigued by how lightly he sketched the figures; that shepherd with his animals seems like a ghostlike presence, especially against the backdrop of a stone structure that will inevitably outlast them. It puts the water wheel itself in this same transient position; no matter how old and solid, the human labor in its construction, along with their dependence on the resource, implies a time limit. Curator: A thoughtful interpretation. Famars Testas walked a delicate tightrope here between portraying the specifics of place and reflecting those bigger existential themes. A sketch, perhaps, but one carrying immense weight. Editor: Absolutely. What seems a fleeting glance becomes a meditation on time, work, and the human condition itself. I love those understated, almost whispered artistic choices.