Roses, Asphodel, and Cypress – Algeria, 1877. Watercolour and gouache on paper; 26 x 37 inches (65 x 93 cm). Private collection. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
In the winter of 1873 North and his friend Fred Walker travelled to Algiers in north Africa for the sake of Walker's health. Alexander, in his article on North, wrote: "By 25th of February Walker, somewhat homesick and foreboding illness, was on his way back to England, in the company of friends; but North stayed, and finding the life much to his liking and making great friends with the neighbour, Ali Cherif, he bought a piece of land and designed and built himself a house which he named 'Dar el Quard,' or 'The House of Roses'" (40). North spent several months there each year until 1881. This is the most important of the series of watercolours that North executed during his journeys to Algeria.
A critic for The Architect admired the work although he felt North had not handled the distant background well: "J. W. North has only one drawing in the Gallery, Roses, Asphodel, and Cypress – Algeria (67), which has all his familiar richness of manner and poetic thought. The distance fails to keep its place satisfactorily in this work" (283). The scenery depicted is likely close to where North lived. The watercolour features a woman picking rose petals in the foreground, which were harvested for perfume production. Two tall cypress trees are in the midground, as are two distinctive white houses, one of which might be North's house Dar el Quard. The background is a panoramic view over the surrounding countryside that The Architect objected to in its review.
Bibliography
Alexander, Herbert. "John William North, A.R.A., R.W.S. Old Water-Colour Society's Club V (1927-28): 35-52.
Esposito, Donato. Frederick Walker and the Idyllists. London, Lund Humphries, 2017. Chapter 4, 100-101.
"Exhibition of the Society of Painters in Water Colours, 1877." The Architect XVII (5 May 1877): 283-84.
Created 22 May 2023