Basic Information

Identity type

Male

Profession

ArtistT and Traveller

Category

Tribute

Birthday / Conception

24/10/1796

About Me / Us / Company

David Roberts was born on October 24, 1796 at Stockbridge, Edinburgh in Scotland. He exhibited immense artistic talents as a child through his excellent sketches of Scottish monuments and castles. His family encouraged his artistic endowments and he started out as an apprentice to a housepainter and decorator. During his seven-year tenure here, he learned art in the evening classes.

Early Days
Later, David started paintings sceneries for a traveling circus. He also painted many types of scenery for theaters like Drury Lane, London and The Theater Royal, Glasgow when he shifted to London. He met Clarkson Stanfield in 1820 while painting at the Pantheon, Edinburgh. Clarkson encouraged his art and prodded him to send his works to exhibitions. At his instance in 1822, David sent three pictures to Exhibition of Works by Living Artists, Edinburgh and exhibited a few easel paintings at Fine Arts Institution in Edinburgh.
While illustrating for the circus, he made many sketches of local costumes and sceneries of different places he traveled with the circus company.
David then moved to London to develop his painting career. He held the first exhibition of his paintings at Society of British Artists in 1824, then at Royal Academy and British Institution in 1826. Although he became a member of Society of British Artists and later its President in 1831, he resigned from the post in 1835. In 1838, he became an Associate of the Royal Academy and later became a Member in 1841. Many of his drawings of Spain saw publication in Picturesque Sketches in Spain between 1832 and 1833.
David then slowly left scene painting to develop easel painting on architectures and the topographies of different places. He, however, returned to theater scenery painting only for designing many of Charles Dickens productions.
Travels of David Roberts
David Roberts was an extensive traveler. He first traveled to Spain and Algeria between 1832 and 1833. These places were unknown to English travelers of that period. From Gibraltar, David went on a short trip to Africa through Morocco, Tangiers, and Tetuan, his first ever exposure to Africa. He elaborated his sketches of Spain into many beautiful and attractive paintings. Notable among them are Interior of Seville Cathedral, Spanish illustrations for the Landscape Annual, and his total selections under Picturesque Sketches in Spain with lithographs.
Various lithographs were made of his paintings of costumes and sceneries of Spain. This inspired David to set out on his next journey of Egypt, Nubia, Holy Land, Syria, and other areas of Middle East. He wanted to see, study, and sketch the ancient and Biblical monumental sites in detail.

Tour of Egypt and the East
David started out on his tour of Egypt in 1838. Between 1833 and 1838, he sold his oil paintings, watercolors and earned commissions for book illustrations. He used this money for his second expedition to Egypt. David was the first English artist to draw the magnificent Egyptian monuments.
David sailed forth from London in August 1838. He went through France, Marseilles, Malta, Greece, and then reached Alexandria in September. From here, he hired a boat, its crew, and a servant and went to Cairo. He visited the pyramids, Sphinx and went ahead with the river journey. During this trip, he visited and surveyed innumerable monuments and temples along River Nile.
During his travels up and downriver Nile, he depicted the lively colors of Cairo, minute ruins, and symbolic details of images and monuments in his watercolors. His drawings highlight the Egyptians monuments before restoration. He put all his visits into more than a hundred sketches, mostly on his way back down the river.
The second part of his Egyptian journey started in 1839. He left Cairo with two of his friends and traveled to Holy Land and modern Lebanon through Suez, Mount Sinai, and Petra. He visited many places from Dan to Beersheba.
David only made sketches of places and monuments of the different places he visited. He did not make the complete paintings there itself. Instead, he used the sketches and other material to produce the final paintings in the studio. He returned to England after eleven months.
After his return to England, he asked Francis Graham Moon to publish his works and Mr. Louis Haghe to make the lithographs. Private subscribers pooled in finance to publish the complete work totaling 6 volumes and 247 lithographs between 1842 and 1849 entitled The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt, and Nubia. This extensive work earned enormous fame and respect for David Roberts.

Important works of David Roberts
Among the important works of David Roberts, notable are his paintings and lithographs of Dromos, or outer Copurt of the Great Temple at Edfou in Upper Egypt titled as The Temple of Edfou in Upper Egypt. This work has dimensions of 43 1/2×56 inches, 110×142 cm. David had walked five miles with his friend from the riverbank to reach the temple of Edfou. He spent two days at Edfou and made many studies to sketch four lithographs, two oils and many watercolors. Many more sketches include oil paintings of Cairo, Bethlehem, Ruins of Baalbec, Memnon and the Plains of Thebes.

Ruins of the Temple of the Sun at Baalbec is an oil canvas with dimensions of 59×94 1/2 inches (150×240cm). When David landed at Baalbec, he got drenched in rain and developed high fever. He took shelter in a Greek monastery. The splendid sceneries and ruins attracted him. He then spent a few days studying the Baalbec temples from all angles, which were the foundation for lithographs and oil paintings. He had as many as eighteen paintings of these ruins and temples. There are a few more of different angles of the Temple of Bacchus, with its porticos and columns, a close-up view of the temple with excellent architecture and columns in the background. The view of The Temple of Bacchus was another acclaimed painting of David Roberts.

The ruins of the temples inspired David who immortalized the magnificent Hellenistic monument through his several sketches and drawings. They enhance the exquisite beauty of the monument and its dimensions enlivening its appearance.
David’s works were very accurate and precise in displaying the perfect architecture, culture, costumes, and landscapes of Egypt and Middle East. His earliest creation was Departure of the Israelites from Egypt and he continued to enjoy painting Eastern views until his end.
The Houses of Parliament is another important pencil and watercolor work of David Roberts with dimensions of 9 3/4×13 3/4 inches (25×35 cm). David did a series of paintings on Thames through sketches of water from Blackfriars and Lambeth. He did this watercolor with other paintings of Rome and Baalbec.
Later Years
After his return from Egypt and The East, the next ten years saw David elaborating these materials and sketches from his visits to Egypt. The outcome was the beautiful compilation of Sketches in the Holy Land and Syria, 1842-1849. He then visited Italy in 1851 and 1853 painting “Ducal Palace, Venice”, “Rome from the Convent of St Onofrio”, “Interior of the Basilica of St Peters, Rome, Christmas Day, 1853”.
He also made a painting of opening of the Great Exhibition of 1851 on Queen Victoria’s insistence. Italy, Classical, Historical, and Picturesque illustrations were the last volume of his published works. David continued to paint and travel until the last. He was working on one of his works on the Thames of St. Paul’s Cathedral when he died of a sudden stroke on November 25, 1864.
Even today his paintings and illustrations of Egypt are very popular, loved, and sought after, though they are more than 150 years old. A Life of Roberts is a total compilation of pen and ink sketches and illustrations from journals and other sources by James Ballantine in 1866.
In Today’s Perspective
Even today, David’s works are on greeting cards, postcards, books, and other publications of modern Egypt. The original hand colored lithographs of David from his first edition by F.G Moon and Son Ltd still sell for hundreds and thousands of pounds to art collectors.
Two books – Egypt: Yesterday and Today and Holy Land: Yersterday and Today have total reproductions of all the six volumes of David’s travels of Egypt and the Holy Land between 1842 and 1849. These are contemporary as they include sketches and photographs with present-day views.
David Roberts is still a very important topographical painter of his times. Today many of his pictures are at Victoria and Albert Museum, The Temple of Dendera is in Bristol while Jerusalem is in Norwich’s Castle Museum. Many of his prints of journals and paintings are collector’s items fetching huge sums of money. This is an incredible accomplishment for the son of a humble shoemaker who had hardly any school education or formal training.

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Country

United Kingdom

Education / Philosophy / Mission