Cart 0
David Robert Authentic Quarto Edition Duo-Toned Tinted Lithograph Published in 1856 London, Middle East Architecture: Plate Plate 174, Approach to the Fortress of Ibrim, Nubia
David Robert Authentic Quarto Edition Duo-Toned Tinted Lithograph Published in 1856 London, Middle East Architecture: Plate Plate 174, Approach to the Fortress of Ibrim, Nubia
David Robert Authentic Quarto Edition Duo-Toned Tinted Lithograph Published in 1856 London, Middle East Architecture: Plate Plate 174, Approach to the Fortress of Ibrim, Nubia
David Robert Authentic Quarto Edition Duo-Toned Tinted Lithograph Published in 1856 London, Middle East Architecture: Plate Plate 174, Approach to the Fortress of Ibrim, Nubia
David Robert Authentic Quarto Edition Duo-Toned Tinted Lithograph Published in 1856 London, Middle East Architecture: Plate Plate 174, Approach to the Fortress of Ibrim, Nubia
David Robert Authentic Quarto Edition Duo-Toned Tinted Lithograph Published in 1856 London, Middle East Architecture: Plate Plate 174, Approach to the Fortress of Ibrim, Nubia
David Robert Authentic Quarto Edition Duo-Toned Tinted Lithograph Published in 1856 London, Middle East Architecture: Plate Plate 174, Approach to the Fortress of Ibrim, Nubia
David Robert Authentic Quarto Edition Duo-Toned Tinted Lithograph Published in 1856 London, Middle East Architecture: Plate Plate 174, Approach to the Fortress of Ibrim, Nubia
David Robert Authentic Quarto Edition Duo-Toned Tinted Lithograph Published in 1856 London, Middle East Architecture: Plate Plate 174, Approach to the Fortress of Ibrim, Nubia
David Robert Authentic Quarto Edition Duo-Toned Tinted Lithograph Published in 1856 London, Middle East Architecture: Plate Plate 174, Approach to the Fortress of Ibrim, Nubia
David Robert Authentic Quarto Edition Duo-Toned Tinted Lithograph Published in 1856 London, Middle East Architecture: Plate Plate 174, Approach to the Fortress of Ibrim, Nubia
David Robert Authentic Quarto Edition Duo-Toned Tinted Lithograph Published in 1856 London, Middle East Architecture: Plate Plate 174, Approach to the Fortress of Ibrim, Nubia
David Robert Authentic Quarto Edition Duo-Toned Tinted Lithograph Published in 1856 London, Middle East Architecture: Plate Plate 174, Approach to the Fortress of Ibrim, Nubia

David Robert Authentic Quarto Edition Duo-Toned Tinted Lithograph Published in 1856 London, Middle East Architecture: Plate Plate 174, Approach to the Fortress of Ibrim, Nubia

Plate 174, Approach to the Fortress of Ibrim, Lower Nubia

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 (1855-56) & 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. Please review the pictures carefully to be satisfied, as photos tell better than words. Excellent condition, slight foxing, also copy of book title plate included. Paper size: 11 ¼” x 8”, image area 8 1/4”x 5 1/2”

This print is from the quarto edition of David Robert’s Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt & Nubia published in London in 1855-56, 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.

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.

Qasr Ibrim Meroitic: Pedeme; Old Nubian: 

An archaeological site in Lower Nubia, located in the modern country of Egypt. The site has a long history of occupation, ranging from as early as the eighth century BCE to 1813 CE, and was an economic, political, and religious center.[1] Originally it was a major city perched on a cliff above the Nile, but the flooding of Lake Nasser after the construction of the Aswan High Dam transformed it into an island and flooded its outskirts. Qasr Ibrim is the only major archaeological site in Lower Nubia to have survived the Nile floods. Both prior to and after the Nile floods, it has remained a major site for archaeological investigations.

Human habitation at the site dates from the Late Period of ancient Egypt, but it reached its greatest prominence in the Middle Ages, when the area was the home of the Eparch of Nobatia. Qasr Ibrim is the source of the largest collection of Old Nubian documents ever found, including the records of the Eparch. The site was occupied until 1813, when the last occupants were driven out by artillery fire. Today the island is closed to all but archaeologists.