3-034-787 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

"The Gate of Victory, Cairo", by F. Dillon, in the Dudley Gallery, 1871. Engraving of a painting. 'This picture is by Mr. F. Dillon, long known and distinguished as a painter of Egyptian subjects, who has repeatedly filled his portfolio with sketches made in the great Nile Valley. The picture, which is exhibited at the Dudley Gallery, is one of four commissioned by the Khedive, Viceroy of Egypt, for himself, the subjects of which were selected by his Highness. Two of the series have already reached their destination; the fourth is still on the artist's easel. This, the third of the series, represents one of the most remarkable of the numerous gates of Cairo, the Bab e' Nusr [ie Bab al-Nasr], or Gate of Victory. The gate itself is chiefly interesting as a specimen of early Arab architecture, but the view included with it will be seen to exemplify several peculiarities of Eastern dwellings, and the life and habits induced by the blinding sunlight of the climate. The Bab e' Nusr faces the east, opening towards the desert and the tombs; and it is through this gate that the Hag [ie Haj], or annual procession of pilgrims, goes when, taking the covering of the Prophet's tomb, it leaves Cairo for the pilgrimage to Mecca'. From "Illustrated London News", 1871.