Study of Camels (1848): Art, History and Details

Study of Camels (1848) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This sheet by an unknown artist was probably created during travels throughout North Africa, possibly Algeria. The country was captured by France in 1830 and annexed as part of its territories in 1848, the year this sheet was made. Numerous artists found inspiration in the culture, recording it for a French audience to whom it was unfamiliar.

Object facts

• Title: Study of Camels
• Date: 1848
• Culture: France, 19th century
• Type: Drawing
• Technique: graphite with blue, red and yellow colored pencil and scraping on wove paper
• Dimensions: Sheet: 28 x 23.4 cm (11 x 9 3/16 in.)
• Collection: DR - French
• Department: Drawings
• Accession number: 2019.248

A detail from the museum

This sheet is an early example featuring colored pencils, used primarily for office and clerical work at the time and less often by artists.

Collection credit

Bequest of Muriel Butkin

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.