  About the Artwork
  
  
  On 1 January 1869 Sanford Robinson Gifford set out to tour the countries of the eastern Mediterranean and the Near East. After a brief stay in Cairo, he boarded a dahabeah (double-masted sailing vessel) to traverse the Nile. His letters describe a picturesque panorama—animal caravans, men in colorful robes, women swathed in gold and gauze—but On the Nile, painted after his return to his New York studio, presents a deeply subjective impression of atmosphere and light. Relying on a small oil sketch,  as well as his memory, Gifford composed his scene in three horizontal bands: shimmering water, parched land, and opalescent sky. The white sail of the felucca (sail boat) casts a luminous reflection on the river’s surface. Shunning any dramatic device or exotic cliché, Gifford captures the subtle and purely sensory experience of bright winter light shining through the dust-filled desert air.
 
From Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts 89 (2015)
  
  
  Title
  On the Nile
  
  
  Artwork Date
  1872
  
  Artist
  Sanford Robinson Gifford
  
  
  
  Life Dates
  1823-1880
  
  
  
  
  Nationality
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events.
  Some definitions include:
  Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation.
  
  
  
  American
  
  
  
  Culture
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group.
  
  
  
  
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  Medium
  Oil on canvas
  
  
  Dimensions
  Overall: 17 × 31 inches (43.2 × 78.7 cm)
  
  
  Classification
  Paintings
  
  
  Department
  American Art before 1950
  
  
  Credit
  Museum Purchase, Robert H. Tannahill Foundation Fund, Associates of the American Wing Fund, Gibbs-Williams Fund, and Dexter M. Ferry, Jr. Fund
  
  
  
  Accession Number
  
  
  
  This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection.
  Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings.
  For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups.
  
  
  
  2011.18
  
  
  Copyright
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