Hardie 141.

Men on horses and donkeys traverse a desert in the foreground, while Tangier, a coastal city in Morocco, North Africa, is on the right. The distant coast of Spain is visible on the left.

James McBey was born on December 23, 1883 in Newburgh, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, educated at his village school, and at the age of 15 years he became a clerk in a local bank. He taught himself how to create etchings on zinc plates from a book on etching "Traité de la Gravure a l'Eau-Forte."

In 1911, he exhibited at the Goupil Gallery in London and his prints were published in both London and Glasgow. In 1916 McBey was appointed official war artist to the Palestine Expeditionary Force, and these drawings are now in the Imperial War Museum. He made several visits thereafter to the Middle East and North Africa. In the 1920s his etchings began to sell at an accelerated price, and he was featured by Malcolm Salaman in the second volume of the series "Modern Masters of Etching" and Salaman also compiled a catalogue of his work, published in 1929. In addition, he had commissions to paint a number of formal portraits, including one of Sir Harry Lauder in 1921.

James McBey died on December 1, 1959 in Tangier, Morocco.