Tunis, from the Saneeah Eftoor

Sir Grenville Temple (1799 - )
Charles Bentley (1806 - 1854)
James Sands

Coloured engraving

1840

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Image of Tunis, from the Saneeah Eftoor
  • About the work
    Location
    Country: Tunisia
    City: Tunis
    Place: British Embassy
    This coloured engraving shows a view of Tunis and its most important sites as they appeared in the 19th century. It is part of Sir Grenville Temple’s ‘Travels in Greece and Turkey and the Mediterranean’ published in two volumes in 1843. The print shows Tunisian travellers accompanied by a camel resting by the shade of the luxuriant vegetation while a panoramic view of the city of Tunis opens up in the distance. As described in Grenville’s ‘Travels’: 
    'This is the favourite spot, the natural observatory, whence Tunis is seen in its beauty and its Eastern glory: rising with majesty, all robed in white, above the verdant fields and luxuriant groves that enrich the landscape, the monotonous character of a city view is relieved by the many mosques and minarets that shoot up from the wide-extended level of the roofs. The most distinct and conspicuous objects in the accompanying view are, the mosque of Zaheb el Taba (Lord of the Seal), of Sidi Mahraz ben Khalef, and the extensive works of the Kazbah'. 
  • About the artist
    Watercolour painter and engraver Charles Bentley is best-known for painting breezy scenes off the English coast. He was born in London; the son of a master carpenter. Bentley was apprenticed to printmaker Theodore Fielding and later spent time in Paris with Theodore’s brother, watercolourist Newton Fielding. From 1827 Bentley made a modest living as an engraver and illustrator. He was elected a member of the Society of Painters in Water Colours (1843) and exhibited 209 works from 1834 to his death. He was a friend of artist William Callow; with whom he made several sketching trips, including a tour of Normandy (1841). The two shared a home in Charlotte Street, Bloomsbury, from 1843 to 1846. Bentley died in Hampstead, at the age of 48.
  • Explore
    Places
    Africa, Tunisia
    Subjects
    topography, townscape/cityscape, cactus, camel, man, path, house, mosque, minaret
    Materials & Techniques
    engraving, coloured engraving
  • Details
    Artist
    Sir Grenville Temple (1799 - )
    Charles Bentley (1806 - 1854)
    James Sands
    Title
    Tunis, from the Saneeah Eftoor
    Date
    1840
    Medium
    Coloured engraving
    Dimensions
    height: 21.00 cm, width: 27.20 cm
    Acquisition
    Origin uncertain
    Provenance
    Map House, London; Foreign & Commonwealth Office (British Embassy, Tunis)
    GAC number
    17669