The common denominator linking the artists in this book is that they all went to the Near East or North Africa and painted the experiences drawn from their travels. The "Orient" in question covers a geographic area which spread from the Balkans through the Maghreb down to Marrakech. Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Egypt and Sudan were a part of this vaste territory as well. This "covering" of the Orient occurred during the 19th century, in between Bonaparte s campaign in Egypt and the First World War.