Artwork
Sidi fet allah gate. Tunis
Sidi fet allah gate. Tunis is a watercolor work on paper by the Impressionist artist John Baptist Joseph Dormer. It dates from 1870 and is held in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum.
About this work
Overview
Sir John Baptist Joseph Dormer, 12th Baron, created a watercolour titled *Sidi fet allah gate, Tunis*. The work portrays a beige stone gate with an arched opening, a flat roof punctuated by modest ancillary structures, and a central pole rising above. A clear blue sky dotted with clouds frames the scene, rendering a concise architectural study of the Tunisian landmark.
Subject & Meaning
The composition records the Sidi Fet Allah gate, an element of Tunis’s historic urban fabric. By focusing on the gate’s structural details and surrounding environment, the drawing emphasizes the interplay between built form and the open sky, offering a visual document of the site’s appearance in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century.
Technique & Style
Executed in transparent watercolour, the piece employs a realistic approach, with careful modulation of hue to convey stone texture, shadow, and atmospheric light. The artist’s palette ranges from muted beiges to subtle blues, allowing the architecture to emerge with clarity while preserving the softness characteristic of the medium.
History & Provenance
The drawing entered the collection of Rodney Searight after being purchased at a Sotheby’s auction on 14 April 1976, alongside other works. Its acquisition at that sale marks its transition from private ownership into a documented collection, where it remains recorded as part of Searight’s holdings.
Artist & collection
Artist
John Baptist Joseph Dormer painted North-African watercolors in the 1870s. He shows the Mosque walls on Monsoorat, the Sidi fet allah gate in Tunis, and the oldest mosque in Tlemcen. Each sheet records a town, a gate,…
![Mosque of Sidi el-hal-lui [Saiyyid al-Halawi] (the cake man) the oldest mosque in Tlemcen, by John Baptist Joseph Dormer](https://artifactworldgallery.com/img/john-baptist-joseph-dormer--mosque-of-sidi-el-hal-lui-saiyyid-al-halawi-the-cake-man-the--be58e84276206cf9-w320.webp)
Encampment of Guards, view from the Abdin Palace Cairo 25.Sep.82.
The Temple of Dendur, Showing the Pylon and Terrace
Jerusalem
Palmyra (from Kasr el Ain)
Near Karnak
Temple of Sabooa - Nubia
`Temple of Dakkeh. Nubia'
`Saki and Pigeon Towers - Farshoot - On the Nile'
View on the Nile, opposite Aswan
Beirut. Al-Omari Mosque