In 1858 the artist visited Cairo and shared a house and studio with his friend and fellow artist Frederick Goodall (1822-1904), whom he had met the year before in London. Together the two artists rode every morning out into the surrounding countryside, sketching many facets of Egyptian life. Haag wrote in his letters that he had fallen in love with the country. In Cairo the two artists rented a house in the old Coptic quarter and gained a reputation for their hospitality with visiting artists and eminent travelers. At the winter exhibition of 1863-1864 of the Watercolour Society, of which Haag was a member, the artist presented various studies of Cairo, among which one was described as ‘Interior of a Copt House, Cairo. A study from the room which F. Goodall and myself enhabited [sic] when at Cairo 1858/59’ (see W. Karbach, op. cit. p. 188).