Harry Sutton Palmer

Harry Sutton Palmer kept a tiny tin of watercolors in his coat pocket so he could sketch any view he liked. He spent years painting the Nile’s edge, not the grand pyramids you’d expect, but the messy docks and jam-packed carpet stalls where merchants haggled. He made it feel busy but quiet at once, as if you could step right into the scene. Hunt down Carpet Merchant’s Shop Cairo from 1873—you’ll see what he meant by “a real place, not a postcard.”