Carl Haag's portrait of Jane Elizabeth Digby el Mezrab, the only known image of her in Arab dress. She was well into middle age when it was painted, and some visitors to the Levant thought her sadly changed. Her eyes were rimmed with kohl to protect them from the sand-filled desert winds, and her hair was dyed black, as the Bedouin thought blonde shades so wonderful as to be dangerous, devilish, unlucky. She spoke Arabic fluently, along with eight other languages, and was friends with the Burtons.
Shortly after marrying Sheikh Medjuel, Jane visited her family in England. Victoria and Albert held sway, and she was not allowed to speak of her marriage to an Arab. People were tying lace frills around their piano legs.
She never visited again.
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