For centuries, Africa and the Middle East were the face of many European painters who came to the region as a result of Orientalist expeditions and colonial campaigns.

These painters left countless paintings that document, in a documentary and narrative way, the traditions and customs of Arabs and Muslims under the Ottoman Empire.

Egypt was one of the countries in which several Orientalists attended delegations, recording the pattern and nature of life in it.

These paintings represent the most visible return of a long history of trade, war, colonialism, and tourism that continues to this day.

For example, the Jewish painter Ludwig Deutsch (May 13, 1855 - April 9, 1935), Austrian-French, was one of those who used to record the nature of life in the Ottoman Empire, and Egypt was one of the destinations that he used to document and transmit The life of her people in Europe.

And we see in his famous painting “At the School” in 1900, a number of students of knowledge in writers studying science, and they wear the turbans of religious scholars.

The painting is painted in warm colors and realistic style, and enjoys a great deal of attention to detail documenting the nature of educational life in Egypt at that period.

Another painting by Deutsch is "The Writer of a Speech," which shows a writer sitting and contemplating some books and papers lying on the floor.

The painting is rich in details, from the writer's embroidered shawl, dress and turban, through the interior decoration of the place he is sitting, in which the nature of the buildings and Islamic architectural styles of that period appear.

The "Speech Writer" by Ludwig Deutsch (networking sites)

The jobs observed by orientalists are not limited to writing and learning.

The Austrian Charles Wilde (December 20, 1854 - June 11, 1907) recorded in his painting "The Antiques Seller" in 1884, an Egyptian man standing in front of pharaonic statues and selling some antiques.

The painting is full of details, and Wilda was good at transmitting the pharaonic inscriptions that adorn the columns, and the seller opened his mouth as if he was calling for his goods at the moment the painting was drawn.

The painting "Antiquities Seller" by the Austrian orientalist Charles Wilde (communication sites)

women and markets

British orientalist Robert George Talbot Kelly (1896-1971) presented in his painting "Merchants on the Banks of the Nile" a number of female peasant women carrying their pots and exchanging conversations on the Nile.

The women in the painting wear jaleb and sell fish and some dairy products.

British orientalist Robert George Talbot Kelly's painting "Merchants on the Banks of the Nile" (communication sites)

Another painting that reflects the lives of working-class women is "The Nubian Story" by the American Orientalist Frederick Arthur Bridgman (1847-1928).

A Nubian woman sits in the yard of a house and around her are women from the people of the house telling them a story and they listen carefully.

The interior decoration, the women’s clothes and the expressions of their faces on the story all fuse together in a dramatic scene rich in details and pleasing to the eye.

The "Nubian Story" painting by the American orientalist Frederick Arthur Bridgman (communication sites)

The two paintings above reflect the nature of working women's lives in Ottoman Egypt, where women work in professions usually related to their social context.

The wealthy usually do not allow their women to work.

And they bring teachers to teach them in the home.

As for the less fortunate women in terms of money and wealth, they worked in traditional and simple occupations, but they were sufficient to support their livelihood.

buildings and furniture

The architectural styles of Old Cairo appear prominently in the paintings as part of the residents' lives and daily life.

In his painting "Fantasia in Egypt", the Belgian orientalist Karel Ohms (1845-1900), who was known for his oriental scenes, presents a horse race in front of a huge mosque, most likely the fortress of Muhammad Ali, where Islamic domes appear clearly in an environment full of dynamism and movement.

Belgian orientalist Karel Ohms' painting "Fantasia in Egypt" (communication sites)

We also see in the painting "Dice Players" by the Czech orientalist Rudolf Wiese, a number of Egyptians gathered around the game of dice.

Some are busy playing and others cross the road, all against a backdrop of cement walls and Islamic arabesques.

The scenes of daily life were a source of special interest for orientalist painters because of the real practices of the society to be colonized or invaded.

Some of the photos focused on a single individual while others interacted with a crowd.

The scenes varied from calm and contemplative images to wild drama, such as the one in Fantasia in Egypt above.

The "Dice Players" panel by the Czech orientalist Rudolf Wiese (communication sites)

There is no doubt that Orientalist art was the lens of colonialism that conveyed the nature and customs of the target societies to Europe for study as well as for visual pleasure.

Pictures of Muslims who are involved in their religion, whether in prayer, performing an obligatory duty, studying, or even pictures of women in their homes or working among them, were an essential feature of the Orientalist vision that attempts to understand the working mechanisms of this society and the value of science and work in it.

“Orientalism is the eye of colonialism with which he sees and stares. His hand with which he feels and oppresses, and his leg with which he walks and penetrates, and his mind with which he thinks and finds out, and without him he would have been floundering in his blindness.” Mahmoud Muhammad Shakir, a message on the way to our culture.