After a brief career as a housepainter in Perth, David Roberts began work in 1816 as a scenery painter with Mr Bannister’s Touring Circus and Theatrical Company.  In 1824 Robert’s paintings were exhibited for the first time at the British Institution in London. That same year, the artist helped to found the Society of British Artists and began travelling throughout Europe. Roberts created numerous drawings during a trip to Spain, a little known country in Britain, which were later published but it was Robert’s visit to the Near East in 1838-9 that became “the great central episode of his artistic life” and established Roberts as one of the most celebrated artists of his day.

Between 1842 and 1849 the Belgian lithographer Louis Haghe executed no less than 247 lithographs after Robert’s drawings. These were issued in monthly installments and bound into volumes under the unwieldy title, The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt and Nubia. The work was a great success.  Associations with a biblical past appealed to the Victorian imagination, and since Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt in 1798, the tombs and temples along the Nile had been the focus of intense European fascination.

Roberts was determined to use his own artistic talents to surpass earlier works on the subject. In order to create a true impression of the visual and emotional impact of the scenes witnessed, Roberts often forsook topographical accuracy in favour of dramatic pictorial effect. The first professional English artist to visit Egypt independently of a patron or expedition, Roberts set a standard for topographical illustration that remains unchallenged to this day.

Below are a few examples from our collection of original Antique Roberts lithographs of Egypt, the Middle East and Spain. Please click on an image to see it in high-resolution with details of the work itself. For the full list of views available,  please do contact us.

Egypt

Great Courtyard of Karnak and the Column of Taharqa.

Memnon. The Great Colossi and fragments at the Memnonium.

Luxor: Medinet Habu. Distant view of the Temple.

Memnomium: Ruins of the Memnomium,Temple of Ramses II (Lesotris) during a Storm.

Colossi of Memnon: The northern statue depicts Amenhotep III with his mother Mutemwia, and the southern statue the pharaoh with his wife Tiy.

Luxor: Medinet Abou. Remains of the Coptic Church inside the Temple.

Karnak: Oblique view through the Hypostyle Hall. The reliefs on the columns detail the reigns and battles of Seti I and Ramesses II.

Dendera: Facade of the Temple of the goddess Hathor. To the right of the entrance is a depiction of Cleopatra.

Approach of the Simoon. The Great Sphynx with the infamous, hot cyclonic wind twisting up before the darkening sun. The most dramatic scene in the series. RARE subscribers’ edition.

Grand Approach to the Temple of Philae.

Cleopatra’s Needle: The obelisk was gifted to the United States and moved to New York City at the end of the 19th century.

Giza: Great pyramid Cheops, second pyramid Cephren and the Sphynx.

Temple of Edfou at Ancient Appolinopolis Magna. Dedicated to the god Horace.

Abu Simble: Elevation of the Great Temple of Ramses II with the four colossi of the Pharaoh with a bas-relief of the god Ra Harakht in centre.

Bab al-Kalabsha: Portico of the Temple of Kalabshi, the lesser sun god Mandulis. Built in 30 BC but never completed, the temple was moved to Lake Nasser after the building of the Aswan dam.

Tombs of the Mamlooks: View in Qarafa, the City of the Dead.

Panorama of the Lybian Mountains (Eastern Desert range) from the Temple of Luxor.

Slave Boat on the Nile. Looking towards the Pyramids of Dashour and Saccara.

Suez: View of the the town and the Gulf.

View from under the portico of the Temple of Edfu.

Panoramic view of the temple complex and sacred lake from the Tomb of Horemheb.

Kom Ombo: Ruins of Kom Ombo. The double entrance to the Temple

Dendera: View from under the Portico of the Temple at Dendera. The Temple of Hathor or Tenyra was begun in the 4th century by Neferjahor

Middle East

Panorama of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives to the Mosque of Omar.

Lydda, (Lod). View over the ruins of the medieval church of St George rebuilt in 1871.

Valley of Jehosaphat: Panoramic view from the north between Scopus and the Mount of Olives towards Jerusalem.

Mount Sinai, the convent of Saint Catherine.

Petra: Remains of the Triumphal Arch erected to the Emperor Hadrian (76-138 AD).

Petra: The Ravine. The ancient capital of the Nabatean Kingdom built by the 4th century BC was rediscovered by the West in 1812.

Gaza: Panoramic view approaching by Beit-Gebrin. With the Egyptian Light Dragoons and Lancers marching to Sidon (Sayda).

Mount Sinai: Panorama from the valley approach.

Beit Jibrin (Eleutheropolis) with the ruins of the Knights Hospitallers’ fortress at sunrise.

Jordan Valley: Descent upon the valley of the Jordan.

Petra: Al Khazneh, the treasury. View of the entrance to Nabatean mausoleum.

Mount Sinai: Convent of St.Catherine, looking towards the ruin of the encampment.

View over Askalon and the Sea of Tiberias.

Sidon (Sayda): Panoramic view from the shore of the port and its Sea Castle.

Petra: View of the Theatre.

Galilee: Sea of Galilee (Lake Tiberias). Panoramic view showing the sea and surrounding mountains.

Petra: Looking south toward the main site on Jebel al-Madhbah.

Sidon (Sayda): Panoramic view from the hills towards Lebanon.

Valley of Jehosaphat: Panoramic view of Jerusalem from the south. towards Jerusalem.

Distant panorama of the Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives.

Bethlehem: Panoramic view from the Judean hills.

Nazareth: Convent of Terra Santa.

Caiphas looking towards Mount Carmel.

Spain