Arthur Hacker, RA, 
British 1858-1919- 
A winding path with trees and figures, North Africa; 

Arthur Hacker, RA, 
British 1858-1919- 

A winding path with trees and figures, North Africa; 

pencil, pen and black ink, and watercolour on paper, indistinctly inscribed (upper left), inscribed with a lengthy poem, beginning 'A Ruined Roman City - Arthur please! / Take off your hat - and then - to your knees!...' on the reverse, a typed and inscribed label 42. Arab Cemetery / Tunisia on the reverse, 17.5 x 25.5 cm. 

Provenance: 
with The Fry Gallery, London (according to an inscription on the backing board). 
Private Collection, UK. 

Note: 
The present work was presumably taken from the artist's sketch book, conceived during a visit to North Africa, possibly Tunisia. A likely related 'on the spot' watercolour by Hacker of similar dimensions, entitled 'The Ascent', sold at Bonhams, Knightsbridge, 25 January 2006, lot 115.

Hacker paid the first of several visits to North Africa in 1881, travelling with the slightly younger Solomon J. Solomon (1860-1927), another fellow RA student, and a number of works betray his response to this region: his monumental oil on canvas 'Pelagia and Philammon' (1887), Walker Art Gallery [WAG 2831]; 'Vae Victis! The Sack of Morocco by the Almohades' (1890), 'Broken Hill Art Gallery, Australia' [1913.0001]; and (in a more symbolist vein) 'And there was a Great Cry in Egypt' (1897) (Private Collection). The present work is a charming and vibrant sketch, with the artist punctuating the scene with spots of bright colour, particularly effective in the red of the children's fezzes. The work is imbued with a sense of immediacy and movement, and no doubt Hacker was directly 'in situ' sketching the scenes around him.