This Carl Werner watercolour has pictures of scribes at work. The Qur'an, hadith (sayings of the Prophet) and knowledge were highly regarded in general and there was a great demand for books in the Islamic world. Scribes were generally accorded much respect as they were seen to be copying the word of God. They not only worked on religious manuscripts but also on literary and scientific manuscripts.Carl Werner was a German painter trained at the Leipzig Academy under the great Nazarene master Schnorr von Carlsfeld before travelling to Italy in 1830. Italy was his home for the next 20 years. He visited England regularly and was a regular exhibitor at the New Watercolour Society. He visited Egypt and Palestine.
