{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O153380"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O153380/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2008BU4983/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2008BU4983/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2008BU4983","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O153380/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O153380","accessionNumber":"SD.1204","objectType":"Drawing","titles":[{"title":"Sketch for The Tartar Messenger Narrating the News of the Victory of St.Jean dAcre","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"Wilkie was in Constantinople when news came of the Anglo-Turkish victory over the Egyptians at St Jean d' Acre (Acre, Syria) on 4 November 1840. The excitement of the event inspired one of the few oils painted (though not finished) during his sojourn in the Near East. The sketch shown here is a study for it; the lithograph of the same scene is Plate 25 of the twenty-six published after Wilkie's death as Sir David Wilkie's Sketches in Turkey, Syria & Egypt, 1840 & 1841. Drawn on Stone by Joseph Nash (1843). In both compositions the men surrounding the courier listen eagerly, their pipes forgotten, as he narrates the events of the battle, no doubt embellished in the telling. In the lithograph, the barber on the left pays scant attention to the chin he is shaving and only the two little girls, introduced by Wilkie as a contrast to the men, are oblivious of the drama. The event takes place in a cafe, and although several races are represented (including Turkish, Armenian and Jewish), few subsidiary details are introduced - unlike the cafe scene by Preziosi (See SD.824) - so as not to detract from the tension of the central episode. \r\nWilkie, who had already established a high reputation as a painter of Scottish rural life, and latterly of more topical events, was in the Near East to study real settings and people for the biblical subjects that he hoped to paint on his return. His hopes were never realised owing to his untimely death at sea on the journey home in 1841.","physicalDescription":"On the back, a preliminary sketch, possibly for the same subject","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Wilkie, David RA (Sir)","id":"A5377"},"association":{"text":"artist","id":"AAT25103"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Pencil, pen and brown ink","categories":[{"text":"Drawings","id":"THES48966"},{"text":"Scotland","id":"THES262877"}],"styles":[{"text":"British School","id":"x30967"},{"text":"Orientalism","id":"x31272"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2008BU4983"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLD","id":"THES49658"},"free":"","case":"SC","shelf":"41","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"drawing","id":"AAT33973"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Turkey","id":"x29225"},"association":{"text":"drawn","id":"x30545"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1840","earliest":"1840-01-01","latest":"1840-12-31"},"association":{"text":"drawn","id":"x30545"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Purchased with the assistance of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, Art Fund, Shell International and the Friends of the V&A","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"31.7","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"24.4","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"On the back, pencil. Numbered No 28","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""}],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"See K. Bendiner, `Wilkie in Turkey: \"The Tartar Messenger Narrating the News of the Victory of St.Jean d'Acre\" ', Art Bulletin, June 1981, LXIII, pp.259-68, ill. fig.2. A sketch for the artist's unfinished oil (Private Collection, Scotland) showing a messenger in a café in Constantinople relaying the news of the Anglo-Turkish victory over the Egyptians at St.Jean d'Acre on 4 November 1840: see Cunningham, 1843, pp.338-9, 363; Bendiner, 1981; RA, The Orientalists, 1984, pp.232-3. A version of the oil was lithographed as The Turkish Courier relating the News of the capture of Acre for Wilkie's Sketches, [1843], [Pl.25] (see SP.652:1-26)","briefDescription":"Drawing, Sketch for The Tartar Messenger Narrating the News of the Victory of St.Jean d'Acre, 1840, by Sir David Wilkie RA","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"Searight, Rodney and Scarce, Jennifer M., <i>A Middle Eastern journey : artists on their travels from the collection of Rodney Searight,</i> Talbot Rice Art Centre, 1980","id":"AUTH351213"},"details":"","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"Searight, Rodney. <i>The Middle East : watercolours and drawings by British and foreign artists and travellers, 1750-1900, from the collection of Rodney Searight, Esq.</i> London, 1971","id":"AUTH351220"},"details":"","free":""}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[{"text":"Turkey","id":"x29225"},{"text":"Istanbul","id":"x33871"}],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[{"text":"Bombardment of St. Jean D'Acre","id":"V643"}],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"Coffee House","id":"x40722"},{"text":"messengers","id":"AAT25865"},{"text":"Sürücü","id":"x42454"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["SD.1204"],"accessionNumberNum":"1204","accessionNumberPrefix":"SD","accessionYear":null,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-18","recordCreationDate":"2008-04-24","availableToBook":false}}