Mosque of Cairo
by DAUZATS, Adrien, Oil on canvas, 35 x 27 cm
An inscription on the back of the painting designates this impressive mosque as that of Al-Azhar. Yet the minaret and dome depicted here differ significantly from the architecture of this mosque, still in place in Cairo. The painting, dated 1840 and dedicated by the artist to his friend Lottin Laval would resemble a rather enchanted reconstitution of Egypt that Dauzats had left ten years earlier.
The painting is signed, dated and dedicated lower right: “A. Dauzats. 1840 / a son ami Lottin de Laval.”