Jerusalem from the South - David Roberts
Archival giclée
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Description
A detailed topographical watercolour by David Roberts, capturing the city of Jerusalem from the southern valley in 1839.
David Roberts, a Scottish painter known for his meticulous documentation of architectural sites, produced this view of Jerusalem during his extensive travels through the Near East in 1839. The composition captures the city from a southern vantage point, looking across the rugged terrain of the Hinnom Valley. Roberts employs a precise, observational approach, balancing the geological formations of the foreground with the distant, fortified silhouette of the city walls and domes.
The work demonstrates the artist's ability to render light and atmospheric conditions, using a muted palette to convey the arid climate of the region. In the foreground, small figures traverse a path, providing a sense of scale against the imposing limestone cliffs. These figures, dressed in traditional attire, add a human element to the otherwise expansive, desolate topography. The architectural details of the city are rendered with clarity, reflecting the artist's background as a scene painter for the theatre, where he developed a keen eye for perspective and structural form.
This watercolour served as a preparatory study for the lithographs published in his multi-volume work, The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt, and Nubia. The image remains a significant record of the city's appearance in the mid-nineteenth century, prior to the rapid urban expansion that occurred in later decades. By focusing on the interplay between the natural environment and the built structures, Roberts provides a clear, unembellished account of the site. The print captures the subtle washes and fine pencil lines of the original, preserving the delicate tonal transitions that define the artist's technique.
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Each print is produced to order using 12-colour giclée printing on FSC-certified archival paper. Designed in Britain and printed at your nearest production hub to reduce waste and speed up delivery.
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Specific Features
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- Museum-grade giclée printing for rich, fade-resistant colour
- Archival matte fine-art paper, FSC-certified
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- Frames in black, natural wood, dark wood or white
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- Dust gently with a soft, dry cloth
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Materials & Sizing
Museum-grade giclée on FSC-certified archival matte paper, with framed and canvas options.
- Paper sizes: A4, A3, A2, A1, A0 and B2 (50×70 cm)
- Canvas: XS (20×30 cm) to Large (60×90 cm)
- Frames: black, natural wood, dark wood or white
Jerusalem from the South - David Roberts
Artist Biography
David Roberts
In 1838 he sailed for Egypt and spent the next two years travelling through the Middle East, filling sketchbooks with drawings of temples, mosques, ruins and desert landscapes that almost no British artist had recorded before. To enter the mosques he had to shave off his sideburns, leave his hog-hair brushes behind (the pig being unclean), and wear traditional Arab clothing while he worked. He was one of the first Europeans allowed to paint inside a mosque.
The sketches became The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt and Nubia, a series of 247 lithograph plates produced in collaboration with the printer Louis Haghe between 1842 and 1849. He funded the project through advance subscriptions, soliciting them personally. Queen Victoria was subscriber number one. Her complete set is still in the Royal Collection.
The lithographs gave Europeans their first detailed visual record of the ancient Near East. They were bought as art, used as reference by scholars, and shaped the Western imagination of Egypt and Palestine for the rest of the century.
His personal life was less composed. His wife Margaret became an alcoholic and in 1831 he sent her back to Scotland to be cared for by friends. He raised their daughter Christine largely alone. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1841, a considerable achievement for a man who had started painting houses, and worked steadily until his death in 1864.
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