A Greek merchant and a lady at Vienna.

2 drawings, watercolour over graphite, 32,7 x 24,5 cm and 22,5 x 15 cm, laid paper (mounted on Whatman paper), signed and dated in pen and brown ink "J. Forbes 1796", numbered on top 83 and 85.

Mounted on paper with framing lines in black ink and watercolour, under passe-partout.

Forbes (1749-1819) was a prolific British artist and writer, known for his writings on India, where he travelled in 1765 as a writer for the British East India Company and was resident until 1784. After returning to England he married and toured continental Europe extensively, including a grand tour in 1796 and 1797 of Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. This resulted in a series of wonderful watercolour and grisaille drawings, such as these wonderful impressions of Greeks in Vienna.