Feluccas on the Nile by Scottish artist Joseph Farquharson (1846-1935) is an oil painting depicting sailboats on a river in front of a desert plateau. Light strokes of blue fade out near the bottom of the work, revealing the white canvas underneath. The sailboats are small, with only a couple thick strokes of white making up the sails, conveying the vastness of the scale of the landscape. Light strokes of pink highlight the rocky edges of the plateau, with depth created through Farquharson's use of darker strokes of blue to create shadows. The sky matches the blue of the water, but the strokes are lighter with the texture of the canvas and its colour coming through the layer of paint. The slightly curving strokes in the sky also further contrast it to the water in the lower half of the piece, overall creating a bright and soft scene. 

Joseph Farquharson RA, 1846-1935

Born in Edinburgh, where his father was a doctor and amateur artist, Farquharson received his first instruction from the landscape painter and family friend Peter Graham. He then trained at the Trustees' Academy in Edinburgh and later spent several winters in the Paris atelier of Émile Carolus-Duran, the friend of Manet and teacher of John Singer Sargent; Farquharson formed a close friendship with the latter. Both Graham and Farquharson went on to pursue lucrative careers as London-based painters of Highland landscape.