John Frederick Lewis, R.A. (London 1804-1876 Walton-on-Thames)

In July 1840 Lewis travelled to Constantinople via Albania, Corfu and Athens, returning to Cairo in 1841 where he remained for ten years. He was the first British artist to settle for such a sustained period in the Levant.

David Wilkie (1785-1841) was in Constaninople at the same time as Lewis and in a letter to William Collins wrote 'We have encountered John Lewis from Greece and Smyrna...He has been making most clever drawings as usual.' (Maj. Gen. Lewis, John Frederick Lewis, R.A., 1805-1876, Leigh-on-Sea, 1978 p. 21).