david roberts drawings

DAVID ROBERTS
and the Holy Land

The mosque of Omar at Jerusalem from Mount Moriah

We are told by another traveller that "In the sacred retirement of this spot, the followers of the prophet delight to saunter or repose and arrayed in the gorgeous costume of the East add much to the beauty and interest of the scene. Around the edge of the platform of the mosque are many small houses for private prayer".

This page describes the travels and the drawings of David Roberts in the Holy Land outside of Jordan. His drawings of Petra can be seen on another page.

David Roberts (1796-1864) was born near Edinburgh, Scotland. As a child his artistic talent was encouraged by his family, through an apprenticeship to a house painter. He later became a scenery painter first to a travelling circus and later to Covent Garden Opera, all the while, improving as an illustrator. He worked hard to become accepted as a landscape painter and gradually acquired a number of important patrons. He quickly learned the value of sketching "on the spot", and began to lay the plans for a trip to Egypt and the Holy Land to draw the famous ruins and biblical locations to be found there. He believed, rightly as it turned out, that there would be a great market in England and Europe for images of such exotic subjects.

In Roberts' day few persons journeyed much beyond their home town. Travel was difficult, slow and expensive. With photography just in its infancy, printed books of landscape and travel drawings were for most people their only window to the world outside.

The reports of discoveries in the Middle East where the travels of Burckhardt to Petra, to Abu Simbel and to Mecca were fascinating the romantic spirits in Britain and Roberts decided to make a long visit there, sketching and painting as many places as he could visit. Throughout the summer of 1838 Roberts arranged for his travels, withdrawing his savings to pay for necessary expenses. He was not then a wealthy man, and the entire project was very much a gamble. At the end of August Roberts departed for Alexandria, at the mouth of the Nile River, arriving after nearly a month at sea. Armed with letters of introduction to British diplomats and Egyptian officials, Roberts made his way to Cairo. There he would find the necessary help and organization for his travels, and the no less necessary permits and safe conducts. He started by exploring the Nile, hiring a boat and going directly as far upstream as far as possible, then returning at a leisurely pace, making detailed additions to preliminary sketches. On his return in January, he rented a house in Cairo for six weeks, while the preparations for the rest of his trip were finished.

CAIRO

He passed this time in making many sketches of Cairo, including the Pyramids at Giza, and in accepting and returning the hospitality of the many European residents of Cairo - among other people who offered advice for his further travels, he met Louis Linant de Bellefonds who had been one of the very first visitors to Petra ten years previously in the company of Louis de Laborde.

The hospitality offered included "native dancing" and he notes in his journal that on the 26th of January he "made a sketch of some dancing girls" seen at a friend's house.

One of the reasons for this delay in Cairo was that he was having difficulty in obtaining permission to travel to Jerusalem, where there was reported to be plague. He tells us that "This annoyed me very much. To visit the Holy Land without seeing Jerusalem would be as bad as to visit England without seeing London."

Roberts was obviously completely entranced by the scenes of life in Egypt and in the Middle East. His sketches of the places he saw are filled with vignettes of people; most of these details were added later to the drawings of the places he visited. Frequently these additions become the central theme of the painting.

In a letter to his daughter Christine on 21st Jan 1839 he wrote: "I wish I could transport you into the byways. Such a scene! All the Eastern nations gathered together, Turks and Greeks in their picturesque costumes. The wild Arabs who never slept within walls; every tribe different in dress, and all armed. Then the motley groups of lazzaroni lounging about; long strings of women sitting astride on mules or donkeys.

I have provided everything requisite for my journey. A tent (a very gay one, I assure you), skins for carrying water, pewter dishes, provisions of all sorts, not forgetting a brace of Turkish pistols and a warm covering for the night.

Imagine me mounted on my camel, my black servant on another and two men with my tent and my luggage; the other two gentlemen similarly furnished and accoutered"

Two new acquaintances from Cairo, John Pell and John Kinnear, would travel with him, and they convinced him to make a previously unplanned detour to the ancient Nabatean city of Petra, only recently re-discovered. They decided finally not to wait for permission to enter Jerusalem, but to go first to Sinai and to Petra and to decide then what to do next.

On February 6, 1839, Roberts' caravan set out. He and his two western companions now dressed in Turkish garb, not only for comfort and protection from the heat, but in order to disguise their Western appearance, since the route they would travel across the Sinai Desert was known to be infested with bandits. The group had purchased four camels and associated gear, including a stock of rifles, pistols and sabres which were as much for intimidation and show as for actual use. They hired an escort of fifteen Arabs, both as bodyguards and guides, led by Sheikh Hussein of the Beni Said tribe. Their caravan was now comprised of 18 men and 25 camels.

SINAI


View of Mt Sinai	St Catherine's	Climb to the Monastery	The monks of St Catherine's with the Abbot (in black)

Look closely at the first of these illustrations, which is clearly drawn in two parts. The magnificent scene of the Sinai mountains is depicted at sunset with Mount Sinai at the far right. In the foreground is the caravan with Roberts' escort relaxing before the evening meal.

Their first goal was the ancient monastery of St. Catherine at Mount Horeb. The journey was arduous and the landscape barren, but its association with Bibilical events held great meaning for Roberts who was a deeply religious man. They discovered that the monks were fearful of the local nomads, and protected themselves against attacks from them.

"Night closed on us before we reached the Convent. The only entrance is by an opening in the wall at a height of 30 feet, having a strong iron door, which, after considerable reconnoitering on the part of the monks, was unbolted, a light was lowered by a rope, and some faggots were thrown down to burn.

These were kindled, and we were drawn up by ropes, one by one, our elbows and knees receiving in transit many thumps and bumps. After being ushered through a long labyrinth of passages we were received with great kindness by the Superior. Supper of rice and dried dates was set before us, and never did a pilgrim sleep more soundly than did I under the hospitable roof of the Monks of St Catherine."

From Sinai, they proceeded towards Aqaba and Petra, where they arrived on the 6th March. Roberts was completely fascinated by the Nabatean city and regretted to be able to remain 5 days only before their guides urged their departure. You can see many of Roberts' drawings of Petra on another page.

The caravan now headed north, through Hebron, Gaza and Jaffa towards Jerusalem. Roberts had been told that the city was quarantined for plague, and was uncertain when and whether they would be permitted to enter. The camels had now been replaced by horses, and the party camped outside the walls of Jerusalem to await lifting of the quarantine. Roberts had been particularly determined on this part of the trip since it would bring images of the sites of biblical events to those who had never had a chance to see them.

JERUSALEM

To Roberts' good fortune, the city was reopened the next morning, and the travellers were received warmly by the Governor of Jerusalem. Over the next two weeks, Roberts made numerous sketches of the city and its monuments, with side excursions to Bethlehem, the Dead Sea and the Greek Orthodox convent of St. Saba. The views of Jerusalem and its Biblical sites would become a group of about 20 lithographs - by far the largest number devoted to any one location in the Holy Land series - attesting to the importance Roberts gave to this revered place.


The Damascus Gate	The "Tower of David"	Entrance to the citadel

During his visit to Bethlehem on the 6th April, Roberts reports that "While I was sketching the Church of the Nativity, a man arrived from Jerusalem with the sacred fire which the priests say comes from heaven; and the whole of the Arab Christians turned out to receive him, carrying banners and headed by their priests." This explains the crowded church, while the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth (further down) appears virtually deserted except for the priests.


View of Bethlehem	The Church of the Nativity	Lake Tiberias

On April 15, 1839, Roberts departed Jerusalem for Lebanon, on the last stage of his long journey. Passing through Nazareth among other sites, he descended to the valley of the Jordan, where he sketched the scene and headed towards the coast.


View of the convent of Terra Santa, Nazareth	The Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth

THE COAST AND LEBANON


Jaffa	Caiphas looking towards Mt Carmel	Sidon

The drawing of Caiphas includes a quick sketch of Roberts himself drawing, sitting on the beach beside his horses under the fascinated gaze of some locals.

Another traveller (Bayard Taylor in 1855) describes Sidon "The town is built on a narrow point of land, jutting out from the centre of a bay, or curve in the coast, and contains about five thousand inhabitants. It is a quiet, sleepy sort of a place, and contains nothing of the old Sidon except a few stones and the fragments of a mole, extending into the sea. The fortress in the water, and the Citadel, are remnants of Venitian sway".

Roberts' original intention had been to continue to Damascus and possibly Palmyra, but when he reached Baalbek he was tired and short of supplies. He fell ill, and when he heard that civil unrest was likely in Damascus he decided to cut short the end of his programme. After sketching Baalbek during four days, finding it quite as impressive as the Nile ruins, he returned to Beirut and from there by sea to Egypt. After his meeting with the Pasha in Cairo (see painting below) he booked passage to London where he finally arrived on July 21 1839 after an absence of nearly a year.

Capo Blanco on the Lebanese coast : "the road is deeply worn and ascends and winds along the face of the cliff to a startling elevation... It is deeply worn and marked by the wheels of carts, a vehicle seldom used on the Coast at the present day."

Bayard Taylor tells us "the side suddenly fell away below us, and we saw the whole of the great gulf and plain of Acre, backed by the long ridge of Mount Carmel. Behind the sea, which makes a deep indentation in the line of the coast, extended the plain, bounded on the east, at two leagues' distance, by a range of hills covered with luxuriant olive groves, and still higher, by the distant mountains of Galilee. The fortifications of Acre were visible on a slight promontory near the middle of the Gulf. From our feet the line of foamy surf extended for miles along the red sand-beach, till it finally became like a chalk-mark on the edge of the field of blue".

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PUBLICATION

This lithograph portrays David Roberts' encounter with the Pasha of Egypt in May 1839 on his return from Beirut. The Pasha (Mehmet Ali) is sitting cross legged with his narguila. Roberts is sitting next to a Lieutenant Waghorn and is holding his hat.

It is interesting that Louis Linant de Bellefonds is shown in the left foreground wearing Turkish dress and a tarboosh.

Before leaving England, Roberts had an unofficial agreement with a publisher for his drawings. On his return however, this publisher appeared unenthusiastic and he sought another, finding F. G. Moon, who would produce the prints in the huge and expensive folio format that Roberts demanded, and who would in turn engage the Belgian lithographer Louis Haghe to craft the stones. Haghe, perhaps history's most talented lithographer, was an artist in his own right whose personal style meshed almost perfectly with Roberts'.

Roberts was determined that this should be a luxury publication, insisting on the use of the new double tintstone technique with colours added by hand. This was very expensive but Roberts refused any suggestion of a less ambitious production. Finally Moon agreed, on condition that enough subscriptions should be taken in advance of publication to cover the cost. They were more successful than they had dared to hope, obtaining nearly 400 advance subscriptions, their clients including Queen Victoria, the Tsar of Russia and a number of other European crowned heads. This covered more than double the cost. Roberts was to receive over one hundred thousand USDollars in today's money - a vast sum. He had succeeded in his gamble.

Two sets of prints were produced - The Holy Land and Egypt & Nubia. Each set would include about 120 images, 60 full folio size and 60 half folio size. A map would be included with each set showing the route of Roberts' travels in making the sketches.

The prints were issued in folio size in two versions : one hand coloured at the publisher's studio, and the second was originally intended to be black and white, but was eventually issued with an ochre wash. You can see examples of both versions here. Only loose pages were produced, the subscriber could later have them bound in as many volumes as he wished - and to whatever quality he wished. Frequently he changed the order of the pages to his taste, and in a number of cases the pages were never actually bound together. After publication, the stones used for the engravings were destroyed.

DAVID ROBERTS RA

As part of the "advertising" for subscriptions, Roberts organised an exhibition of his production from the Holy Land and Egypt which moved across the country.

The impression made by his paintings and drawings created a considerable reputation for Roberts. In 1841 he was elected to the Royal Academy in London following his submission to their annual exhibition of his painting of the great temple doorway in Baalbek. The lithographs published all bear the signature of "David Roberts RA".

He continued to travel and to paint in Europe, but lithographs were losing their popularity as the art of photography appeared. Nevertheless, his patrons did not abandon him, and he produced a number of paintings for Queen Victoria among others.

He was in the midst of creating a painting of St. Paul's Cathedral in London, when on November 25, 1864, he died of a stroke at the age of 68.

LINKS AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This page has been something of an exercise in frustration! Roberts' drawings are beautiful, and deserve to be seen in a far larger format than I can use here. I do urge as many of you as have the time to click on them to get at least the largest version that I can supply. The detail is astonishing, the effects are wonderful. I regret also that I have not been able to use more of them, the page is already really too long!

I have used the book of Roberts' drawings published by the Redwan Press in Jordan, and have drawn on this for the biographical and topical data. His journal can be seen in the library of the American Center of Oriental Research in Amman. Most of the lithographs are also reproduced in sheet version in souvenir shops. Unfortunately most of the reproductions readily available from these sources are understandably those of Petra (see separate web page). They are well worth acquiring, but the others of the rest of the Holy Land are by no means negligible, as you can see.

Some more of his lithos can be seen online at http://www.medinaarts.com/CatalogIndex.htm where the original versions are offered for sale - I only wish I could afford them!

History of Jordan section - Home - Photo Gallery

Visit of Laborde and Linant to Petra - The beginning of the Kingdom of Jordan

Early views of Petra by Linant, Laborde and David Roberts

List of Narratives of journeys to Petra between 1812 and 1914 by Norman N. Lewis