ArtistsNetwork.com 11ANONYMOUS GIFT, 1961THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART
Current scholarship is most favorable regarding
Lewis’ skills. Art historian Patrick Noon believes that
Lewis demonstrated “the unassailable authority
of British [watercolor] technique” and concludes
thathepainted“someofthemostsophisticated
workseverproducedinthatmedium.”Lewis’ Middle Eastern studies were so scrupulously
observed that they were treated as factual
documentation. Not only are the camels beautifully
drawn, their tawny coats pale in the sunlight, but
theintricatepatternofthefabriconthe
foregroundcamel’ssaddleenlivensthepainting.SeveralfinishedpaintingsbyLewisarebasedonTwoCamels.
One,datedsoonaftertheartistreturnedtoLondon,isawater-
color now in The Fitzwilliam Museum, at the University of
Cambridge. Lewis adhered closely to the sketch, even duplicat-
ing the fabric pattern. Another is an oil panel at Yale University,
in which the animal appears reversed. Lewis painted the work
in 1876, some 33 years after the original sketch.The camels are silhouetted against
a light sky, which Lewis quickly
dashed in with opaque watercolor.
He often used tan paper for his studies—
a natural choice for the artist’s
desert landscapes.