Landscape painter, sculptor, architect, archaeologist and antiquary, Louis-François Cassas was born into a family of artisans, enabling his eclectic artistic inclination from a very young age. By 1778 he was already traveling around Italy and the Adriatic coast, where he was commissioned to study ancient monuments. These drawings would later be published as engravings and reproduced to copperplate printings and his watercolours from this time, are held at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
Wedding March in Cairo
33 x 94.5 cm | Pen, watercolour and pencil on paper
In 1784, Cassas was commissioned by the French Ambassador to make drawings of Constantinople and it was after this that he travelled to Egypt, Syria and Palestine to document the Holy Land, antiquities and other renowned Middle Eastern sites. It was upon his return to Paris, that he began publishing these works and others in various books, which continued throughout his life. Cassas typically exhibited his work in various Salons throughout Paris and his observations influenced many artists and stage designers into the 19th Century.
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