{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1042321"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1042321/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AE8029/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AE8029/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AE8029","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017JW5245","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1042321/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1042321","accessionNumber":"517-1882","objectType":"Watercolour","titles":[{"title":"Copt Mother and Child","type":"popular title"}],"summaryDescription":"Egypt held a particular fascination for artists of the nineteenth century. Like many orientalist painters, Frederick Goodall spent time living in Egypt and his work focused on capturing the realities of everyday life in the country. This watercolour, depicting a Christian Egyptian Mother and her child is more like a portrait than a genre scene in its exquisite detail and intimate intensity. However audience’s in Britain would have enjoyed it as a fascinating “snapshot” of another way of life. ","physicalDescription":"Full-length seated figure of a woman seated towards the viewer's right, in an interior with an octagonal in-laid table and patterned wall hangings.  She is looking down at a small sleeping child which she holds n her lap and wears a black cap from which a pale blue viel hangs down on either side, large ear-rings, a black dress, a white underskirt and a broad silver bracelet. The baby wears a pink dress and white cap.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Goodall, Frederick","id":"A17728"},"association":{"text":"artist","id":"AAT25103"},"note":"Signed "}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"watercolour","id":"AAT15045"}],"techniques":[{"text":"watercolour drawing","id":"x37878"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Watercolour on paper","categories":[{"text":"Drawings","id":"THES48966"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2006AE8029","2017JW5245"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLF (VA)","id":"THES49656"},"free":"","case":"TOPIC","shelf":"3J","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"watercolour (painting)","id":"AAT78925"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1875","earliest":"1875-01-01","latest":"1875-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"Dated by the artist"}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Bequeathed by John Jones","dimensions":[],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"F.G. 1875","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"F.G. monogram"}],"objectHistory":"Bequeathed by John Jones in 1882\r\n\r\nLent by John Jones to the Grosvnor Gallery Winter Exhibition, 1878-9.","historicalContext":"In the early 19th century, artists increasingly took advantage of the opportunities for foreign travel, exploring new subjects in the landscapes and cultures of other countries.  Egypt held a particular fascination for artists, with its striking landscape, Biblical associations and the appeal of the exotic fostered by the \"Arabian Nights\".  Antiquarian artists had previously visited the area to paint ancient sites. Now as knowledge of modern Egypt grew through publications such as E. W. Lane's \"Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians\" (1836), which emphasised the reality of Islamic life, artists increasingly focused on the life of the country itself, rather than relics of a past. \r\n\r\nFrederick Goodall (1822-1904), was a prolific and highly successful Orientalist painter. He spent eight months in Egypt in 1858-9 and later returned to Cairo in 1870. During his first visit, Goodall made many sketches in the streets of Cairo and the area around the Pyramids, which he returned to throughout the 1860s when working on his carefully constructed oil paintings, such as <i>The First Born</i> (1861, Museums Sheffield). The artist revisited the subject of <i>The First Born</i> in 1875, when he painted this watercolour, <i>Copt Mother and Child</i>.  Through exquisitely rendered details, such as the intricately inlaid table, rush matting and the woman’s striking head-dress and jewellery, Goodall authentically captured the unfamiliar culture of Egypt. His depiction of a Christian Egyptian woman and her child is more akin to a portrait than a genre painting, in its close-up intensity. However Goodall’s audience in Britain would have enjoyed it primarily as a fascinating “snapshot” of another way of life. \r\n\nJohn Jones was born in Middlesex in 1798/9. Following an apprenticeship, in 1825 he set up business in London as a tailor and army clothier, opening a second branch in Dublin 1840. Jones often travelled in Europe, particularly in France and following his He retirement in 1850, he began to amass a collection of 18th-century continental fine and decorative arts, which he displayed at his home, No. 95 Piccadilly. After the Marquess of Hertford and his son Sir Richard Wallace, Jones was the principal collector of French 18th century fine and decorative arts in Britain. Following his death on 7 January 1882, Jones left his collection, valued at £200,000, to the South Kensington Museum, now the V&amp;A. In total, the bequest comprised 1034 objects (excluding the books), including 105 paintings, 137 portrait miniatures, 147 pieces of porcelain, 52 bronzes and ormolu objects, 135 pieces of furniture, 109 sculptures in marble and alabaster, and 313 prints. His collection of books, which numbered approximately 780 volumes, included the first three Shakespeare folios. Among his collection of British watercolours and oil paintings, works such as<i> Copt Mother and Child</i> reflect Jones' interest in travel. \r\n","briefDescription":"Watercolour, Copt Mother and Child by Frederick Goddall (1822-1904), British School, 1875\r\n","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"This watercolour is almost identical to Frederick Goodall's much larger oil painting \"The First Born\", which was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1861 and which is now in the collection of Museums Sheffield (formerly the Mappin Art Gallery).","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["517-1882"],"accessionNumberNum":"517","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1882,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-15","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-30","availableToBook":false}}