View of the Nile between Cairo and Alexandria
- Object:
Watercolour
- Place of origin:
Egypt (painted)
Cairo (painted) - Date:
ca. 1510-1520 (painted)
- Artist/Maker:
Unknown
- Materials and Techniques:
Ink, watercolour and bodycolour, on paper
- Credit Line:
Purchased with the assistance of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, Art Fund, Shell International and the Friends of the V&A
- Museum number:
SD.1237:2
- Gallery location:
Prints & Drawings Study Room, level D, case 87, shelf SC, box 42
These unusual illustrations are not by a professional artist, and therefore look very different from most Italian drawings surviving from this date. They might be a traveller’s record of a pilgrimage, a trading expedition, or an ambassadorial visit. The Venetians had long-established trading agreements with the Mamluk Sultans of Cairo, the rulers of Egypt since 1250. The Venetians exported many kinds of goods; the most valuable things included oil, slaves, wool and silk cloth, and glass, (including mosque lamps). In return they mainly imported pepper and other spices, which were so valuable that they almost became a kind of currency.
The trade with Egypt was carefully regulated by the Republic, and pilgrims to the Holy Land (which included Egypt) were also permitted to book passages on the trading ships. In 1512 a special envoy, Domenico Trevisan, was sent from Venice to Cairo to renegotiate the terms of trade, and to secure the release of Italian nationals who had incurred the Sultan’s displeasure.
Although the depictions of Alexandria, the Nile and Cairo are rather primitive, the buildings and monuments are recognisable and in relatively the right place. The aqueduct which is such a prominent feature of the view of Cairo was restored by the Sultan al-Ghuri in 1508.
