This oil sketch is a study for the prominent figure in the foreground of Week’s large canvas Powder Play: City of Morocco, Outside the Walls, painted in Paris around 1880-1882, today in a private collection. The painting depicts a scene outside the walls of a Moroccan city, possibly the ancient capital of Marrakech, with the snow-capped Atlas mountains in the distance. A contingent of mounted troops parades before the Sultan, sitting on horseback under a red canopy, while in the foreground a smaller group of mounted warriors show off their marksmanship. As Ellen Morris notes of the painting, ‘The result of the composition is a painting of panoramic impact and a rare example of Weeks’ deftness in painting broad landscapes…[The] generally subdued palette of the work is offset by the finely-drafted and brightly-colored foreground figures, and some judiciously-placed color accents in the spectators and the line of mounted troops. The painting exhibits a strong sense of naturalism in both its composition and the superb modelling of the figures.’