[Mohammed Ali.]
[T. Brigstocke. G.R. Ward]. [n.d. c.1850]. Mezzotint on india, proof before all letters. Platemark: 775 x 495mm. (30½ x 19½"). Large repaired tear from bottom edge to map on floor; second repaired tear to upper left margin. Mohammed Ali, in the Palace of the Citadel, Cairo with 'Barrace of Nil' and 'Plans of Railway, From Cairo to Suez' by his feet. Muhammad Ali Pasha (1769-1849) is regarded as the founder of modern Egypt. Although neither born in Egypt nor a speaker of Arabic, he can readily be identified as someone who strove to defend the country against outsiders, to build up its power and to develop its economic and administrative resources. The dynasty that he established would rule Egypt and Sudan until the Egyptian Revolution of 1952. In 1833 he considered building a railway between Suez and Cairo to improve transit between Europe and India as he proved to boost Egypt's economy with exports of cotton and Egyptian goods. After his death, Abbas I contracted Robert Stephenson to build Egpyt's first standard gauge railway. Thomas Brigstocke (1809-1881), was a British portrait painter. He first studied in Sass's studio, then in the Royal Academy Schools, and under H.P. Briggs, and subsequently under J.P. Kni-lit. He also studied at Paris, Florence, Rome and Naples, during eight years. He exhibited his first picture, 'Alnaschar, the Barber's fifth Brother', at the Royal Academy in 1842. Five years later he went to Egypt with a letter of introduction to Mohammed Ali Pasha, by whom he was kindly received, and well employed in painting portraits of himself and his family. There Brigstocke spent sixteen months painting chiefly at the Palace of Shoubra, on the Nile, near Cairo, and at Ras el Tin, Alexandria; where Mohammed Ali established the first Egpytian navy.
[Ref: 29100] £350.00