Corner of an Eastern Courtyard

Henry Wallis

Date: c. 1870 

Materials: Oil on canvas

It is generally recognised that the influence of Pre-Raphaelitism on Wallis's work came to a peak and a conclusion in 1858 with 'The Stonebreaker'. Inheriting property from his stepfather, he completed and exhibited fewer paintings in later life, travelling widely in the Mediterranean and the Near East.

This oil is typical of a more informal type of work whose date and setting are impossible to determine precisely. The basic building materials and obviously hot climate could suggest either Capri, a favourite haunt of the artist, or Egypt, which Wallis is known to have visited from the 1870s.