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David Robert Authentic First Quarto Edition Duo-Toned Tinted Lithograph Published in 1855 London, Middle East Architecture: Plate 57, Askelon, Israel
David Robert Authentic First Quarto Edition Duo-Toned Tinted Lithograph Published in 1855 London, Middle East Architecture: Plate 57, Askelon, Israel
David Robert Authentic First Quarto Edition Duo-Toned Tinted Lithograph Published in 1855 London, Middle East Architecture: Plate 57, Askelon, Israel
David Robert Authentic First Quarto Edition Duo-Toned Tinted Lithograph Published in 1855 London, Middle East Architecture: Plate 57, Askelon, Israel
David Robert Authentic First Quarto Edition Duo-Toned Tinted Lithograph Published in 1855 London, Middle East Architecture: Plate 57, Askelon, Israel
David Robert Authentic First Quarto Edition Duo-Toned Tinted Lithograph Published in 1855 London, Middle East Architecture: Plate 57, Askelon, Israel
David Robert Authentic First Quarto Edition Duo-Toned Tinted Lithograph Published in 1855 London, Middle East Architecture: Plate 57, Askelon, Israel
David Robert Authentic First Quarto Edition Duo-Toned Tinted Lithograph Published in 1855 London, Middle East Architecture: Plate 57, Askelon, Israel
David Robert Authentic First Quarto Edition Duo-Toned Tinted Lithograph Published in 1855 London, Middle East Architecture: Plate 57, Askelon, Israel
David Robert Authentic First Quarto Edition Duo-Toned Tinted Lithograph Published in 1855 London, Middle East Architecture: Plate 57, Askelon, Israel
David Robert Authentic First Quarto Edition Duo-Toned Tinted Lithograph Published in 1855 London, Middle East Architecture: Plate 57, Askelon, Israel
David Robert Authentic First Quarto Edition Duo-Toned Tinted Lithograph Published in 1855 London, Middle East Architecture: Plate 57, Askelon, Israel
David Robert Authentic First Quarto Edition Duo-Toned Tinted Lithograph Published in 1855 London, Middle East Architecture: Plate 57, Askelon, Israel
David Robert Authentic First Quarto Edition Duo-Toned Tinted Lithograph Published in 1855 London, Middle East Architecture: Plate 57, Askelon, Israel
David Robert Authentic First Quarto Edition Duo-Toned Tinted Lithograph Published in 1855 London, Middle East Architecture: Plate 57, Askelon, Israel
David Robert Authentic First Quarto Edition Duo-Toned Tinted Lithograph Published in 1855 London, Middle East Architecture: Plate 57, Askelon, Israel
David Robert Authentic First Quarto Edition Duo-Toned Tinted Lithograph Published in 1855 London, Middle East Architecture: Plate 57, Askelon, Israel

David Robert Authentic First Quarto Edition Duo-Toned Tinted Lithograph Published in 1855 London, Middle East Architecture: Plate 57, Askelon, Israel

ASKELON, Plate 57:

A fine example from the first issue of David Robert' monumental works on the Middle East: The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia,  Egypt & Nubia, lithographed by Louis Haghe and published in London by Day & Son (1855) & considered the greatest lithographically illustrated works issued in the 19th century.

The firm of Day & Haghe was one of the most prominent lithographic companies of the nineteenth-century. They were also amongst the foremost pioneers in the evolution of chromolithography. The firm was established in 1823 by William Day, but did not trade under the moniker of Day & Haghe until the arrival of Louis Haghe in 1831. In 1838, Day & Haghe were appointed as Lithographers to the Queen. However, and perhaps owing to the fact that there was never a formal partnership between the two, Haghe left the firm in the 1850's to devote himself to watercolour painting. The firm continued as Day & Son under the guidance of William Day the younger (1823 - 1906) but, as a result of a scandal involving Lajos Kossuth, was forced into liquidation in 1867. Vincent Brookes bought the company in the same year, and would produce the caricatures for Gibson Bowles' Vanity Fair magazine, as well as the illustrations for Cassells's Poultry Book, amongst other commissions.

Original fine tinted lithograph, very clean overall condition good/ excellent. Please look at the print carefully to be satisfied with condition, photos tell better than words.

This print is from the first quarto edition of david Roberts’s Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt & Nubia published in London in 1855, a fine tinted lithograph, an original, duo-toned, lithographed plate, printed on heavy stock paper, blank reverse side.

There is a hand-lithographed signature by David Roberts on the right of this plate.

Excellent condition, no foxing, original descriptive text included, and also copy of book title plate. Paper size: 11 ¼” x 8”, image area 8 1/4”x 5 1/2”. 

David Roberts RA (24th October 1796 – 25th November 1864) was a Scottish painter. He is especially known for a prolific series of detailed prints of Egypt and the Near East produced during the 1840s from sketches made during long tours of the region (1838-1840). This work, and his large oil paintings of similar subjects, made him a prominent Orientalist painter. He was elected as a Royal Academician in 1841.

Roberts views of the Middle East are very popular for both their artistic appeal and historical importance. Roberts prints are considered to be some of the finest tintstone lithographs ever produced.

Roberts visited Syria and Egypt in 1838 and in 1839 reached the Holy Land, where he created the drawings that were later turned into stunning lithographs. When in the Middle East, he traveled by boat up the Nile and then by camel, with Arab hosts to guide him.

Roberts (1796-1864) has rendered the views in a style clear, simple and unlaboured, with a masterly vigour and boldness. Abbey regarded the work as `one of the most important and elaborate ventures of nineteenth-century publishing, and the apotheosis of the tinted lithograph'.

David Roberts was born at Stockbridge near Edinburgh (Scotland), and at the early age of 10 apprenticed to Gavin Buego, a house painter. He continued to work for Buego, also as an interior decorator, after his apprenticeship had been completed, carrying out work on imitation stone-work and paneling at Scone Palace and Abercairney Abbey.

By 1818 Roberts had become assistant scene painter at the Pantheon theatre in Edinburgh, moving on to work in theatres in Glasgow and finally in late 1821 to Drury Lane theatre in London, where he worked with Clarkson Stanfield. Both artists exhibited at the Society of British Artists, Royal Academy and British Institution, and by 1830 Roberts was firmly established as a topographical artist and was able to give up his theatre work. In these early years he toured the continent and Scotland, and in 1832-33 visited Spain.

In 1838 he made plans for his journey to the Near East, inspired by a love of artistic adventure; departing in August 1839 for Alexandria, he spent the remaining part of the year in Cairo, visiting the numerous tombs and sites. In February of the following year he set out to cross the desert for the Holy Land by way of Suez, Mount Sinai and Petra arriving in Gaza, and then on to Jerusalem, concluding his tour spending several months visiting the biblical sites of the Holy Land, and finally returning to England at the end of 1839. The drawings of his tour were submitted to F.G. Moon in 1840 who arranged to bring out a work illustrative of Scripture History, paying Roberts £ 3,000. for the copyright of the sketches, and for his labour in supervising Louis Haghe's lithography. Both the exhibition of his original watercolours and the subsequent published work were an immediate success and confirmed his reputation as an architectural and landscape artist of the highest order.

Like so many other places in Israel, Ashkelon is built upon the ruins of past civilizations. This was one of five Philistine city-states (along with Gath, Gaza, Ekron and Ashdod). The city also plays a role in biblical history as the place where Delilah cut Samson's hair to sap his strength. Ashkelon was also a great trading center because it lay along the Via Maris, the route linking Egypt with Syria and Mesopotamia. 

The city was first settled at the end of the third millennium. It was conquered by the Philistines in the second half of the 12th century. After the Israelite conquest of the rest of the area, the two peoples engaged in several hundred years of conflict. After King Saul was slain by the Philistines, David lamented. Even after David defeated the Philistines in much of the rest of the country, he could not dislodge them from Ashkelon. This was finally accomplished by the Assyrian conqueror Tiglath-Pileser III in 734 B.C.E. After roughly 600 years in the region, the Philistines disappeared forever.

The city passed through the hands of the region's subsequent invaders before enjoying a renaissance under the Greeks and Romans. After the Jews, under the leadership of the Maccabeans, overthrew the Greeks in the 2nd century, Ashkelon became an autonomous city. It is believed that Ashkelon was the birthplace of Herod (in 37 B.C.E.), who enlarged and beautified the city, constructing a summer house, palaces and an aqueduct. Under the Romans, Ashkelon was also granted the rare privilege of being exempt from taxes. It became a flourishing trade center and, in particular, a major wine producer.

The city became a Christian city in the Byzantine period and was captured by the Muslims in 638 C.E. The Crusaders came next in 1153, but were defeated by Saladin. Richard the Lion Heart led the Crusaders back, but they were eventually driven out in 1280 by Sultan Baybars. The city was then abandoned until 1948 when the Jews of the new State of Israel began to rebuild it. Ashkelon was reestablished as an Israeli city in 1953.