David Roberts 1796 - 1864

David Roberts 1796 - 1864

View of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives 1855

Oil on canvas

55(H) x 93(W)

The Government Art Collection, United Kingdom

David Roberts 1796 - 1864

Chapel of the Annunciation, Nazareth c. 1839

Watercolour and white heightening on paper

23.5(H) x 34(W)

The Government Art Collection, United Kingdom

David Roberts 1796 - 1864

Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives with Pilgrims Entering from the River Jordan 1842

Oil on canvas 84.1cm x 153cm

Norfolk Museums and Archaeology Service, Norfolk, England

David Roberts 1796 - 1864

St Katherine's Monastery with Mount Horeb 1839

Watercolour, over graphite 499mm x 352mm

The British Museum, London

Print made by Louis Haghe 1806 - 1885

After David Roberts 1796 - 1864

Caiphas looking towards Mount Carmel, April 24th 1839

Tinted lithograph with hand-colouring

610 x 425 mm

The British Museum, London

St Jerome wrote:

"The Greek historians are understood so much better when one has seen Athens, and the third book of Virgil [of the Aeneid] when one has sailed from Troad…to Sicily and from there to the mouth of the Tiber; and so one understands Holy Scripture better when one has seen with one’s own eyes Judea and contemplated the ruins of the ancient cities” (Praef.In Liber Paralip: PL29,423).

Roberts was the first professional artist to visit the Near East without a patron or a connection to a military expedition or missionary group.

He sailed to Alexandria in 1838 and for eleven months traveled up the Nile River, across deserts and mountains, through Egypt and the Holy Land, to arrive in Jerusalem on Easter 1839.

He continued north to Lebanon and departed from Beirut in May.

Roberts recorded his impressions of landscapes, temples, ruins, and people in three sketchbooks and more than 272 watercolours.

These sketches and paintings provided the basis for the 247 lithographs published with text between 1842 and 1849 as the three-volume "Holy Land."

The images were produced by Louis Haghe, the best and most prolific lithographer of the time.

Roberts's plates were among the most popular images of famous sites in the Near East.

John Ruskin wrote they make "true portraiture of scenes of historical and religious interest. They are faithful and laborious beyond any outlines from nature I have ever seen."