The following painting by Tristran Ellis and description from Rita Severis in her book Travelling Artists in Cyprus: 1700-1960 portray the moat immediately outside the iconic Venetian fortification of Nicosia. It has transformed from one of the three original gates to the city into an outdoor theater area and sculpture park.
· "In the panoramic watercolour of ‘The Walls of Nicosia’, in which a string of camels plods away from the city and a British officer on his horse supervises work in the arid land outside the walls, Ellis was primarily concerned with the atmospheric effects. A couple of simple huts and a minaret are the only buildings visible inside the fortifications, and the city walls recede towards the distant mountains. The use of colour is limited, giving greater emphasis to the light. Local red and blue tints pick out features and bright expanses of wash for the mountains accentuate their uneven height with the five-finger peaks dominating the centre. The landscape is dusty, the stillness suggesting a dazzlingly hot day in the desert. The British officer as the colonial master, a few local workmen, the ancient wall and bastion – these elements place the painting in an imperial context and within the sequence of successive colonizations of Cyprus – Lusignan, Venetian, Ottoman, and British." (R. Severis)
Severis, R. 2000. Travelling Artists in Cyprus: 1700-1960. London: Philip Wilson Publishers.
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