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David Robert Authentic First Quarto Edition Duo-Toned Tinted Lithograph Published in 1855 London, Middle East Architecture: Plate 40, Jacob’s Well at Shechem, Samaria
David Robert Authentic First Quarto Edition Duo-Toned Tinted Lithograph Published in 1855 London, Middle East Architecture: Plate 40, Jacob’s Well at Shechem, Samaria
David Robert Authentic First Quarto Edition Duo-Toned Tinted Lithograph Published in 1855 London, Middle East Architecture: Plate 40, Jacob’s Well at Shechem, Samaria
David Robert Authentic First Quarto Edition Duo-Toned Tinted Lithograph Published in 1855 London, Middle East Architecture: Plate 40, Jacob’s Well at Shechem, Samaria
David Robert Authentic First Quarto Edition Duo-Toned Tinted Lithograph Published in 1855 London, Middle East Architecture: Plate 40, Jacob’s Well at Shechem, Samaria
David Robert Authentic First Quarto Edition Duo-Toned Tinted Lithograph Published in 1855 London, Middle East Architecture: Plate 40, Jacob’s Well at Shechem, Samaria
David Robert Authentic First Quarto Edition Duo-Toned Tinted Lithograph Published in 1855 London, Middle East Architecture: Plate 40, Jacob’s Well at Shechem, Samaria
David Robert Authentic First Quarto Edition Duo-Toned Tinted Lithograph Published in 1855 London, Middle East Architecture: Plate 40, Jacob’s Well at Shechem, Samaria
David Robert Authentic First Quarto Edition Duo-Toned Tinted Lithograph Published in 1855 London, Middle East Architecture: Plate 40, Jacob’s Well at Shechem, Samaria
David Robert Authentic First Quarto Edition Duo-Toned Tinted Lithograph Published in 1855 London, Middle East Architecture: Plate 40, Jacob’s Well at Shechem, Samaria
David Robert Authentic First Quarto Edition Duo-Toned Tinted Lithograph Published in 1855 London, Middle East Architecture: Plate 40, Jacob’s Well at Shechem, Samaria
David Robert Authentic First Quarto Edition Duo-Toned Tinted Lithograph Published in 1855 London, Middle East Architecture: Plate 40, Jacob’s Well at Shechem, Samaria
David Robert Authentic First Quarto Edition Duo-Toned Tinted Lithograph Published in 1855 London, Middle East Architecture: Plate 40, Jacob’s Well at Shechem, Samaria
David Robert Authentic First Quarto Edition Duo-Toned Tinted Lithograph Published in 1855 London, Middle East Architecture: Plate 40, Jacob’s Well at Shechem, Samaria
David Robert Authentic First Quarto Edition Duo-Toned Tinted Lithograph Published in 1855 London, Middle East Architecture: Plate 40, Jacob’s Well at Shechem, Samaria
David Robert Authentic First Quarto Edition Duo-Toned Tinted Lithograph Published in 1855 London, Middle East Architecture: Plate 40, Jacob’s Well at Shechem, Samaria

David Robert Authentic First Quarto Edition Duo-Toned Tinted Lithograph Published in 1855 London, Middle East Architecture: Plate 40, Jacob’s Well at Shechem, Samaria

Plate 40, Jacob’s Well at Shechem.

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.

This print is from the first quarto edition of David Robert’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.

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

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.

Jacob’s Well in Samaria – The History of the Samaritans

Jacob’s Well still exists in the ancient land of Samaria. Samaria was the land between Judaea and Galilee. In 722 BC, the Assyrians conquered this area and hauled most of the Israelites into captivity. According to Assyrian records, new inhabitants were brought in from the east, forming a new population. This mixture of indigenous Israelites with imported Assyrians is thought to be the beginning of the Samaritan people.

Later in the 6th century BC, when the Jewish people returned to Jerusalem to rebuild their temple, the new population of Samaritans in the north wasn’t invited to participate. They were considered “half-breeds,” with an impure mix of Judaism and “outside” religious customs.
So, after being snubbed, the Samaritans built their own temple on Mount Gerizim in Samaria about 330 BC. This became their holy mountain, and they changed some passages in the Hebrew Scriptures to reflect that. Simply, Jews and Samaritans didn’t get along ever since.
But, Jesus was a unique Jewish rabbi. It seems he made a point of travelling through the region from time to time, especially when he travelled between Galilee and Jerusalem. His message was for everyone -- including these so-called, “outcasts.”

Jacob’s Well in Samaria 

Today, Jacob’s Well in Samaria lies within the monastery complex of the Eastern Orthodox Church in Nablus, a part of the Palestinian West Bank. Jacob’s Well is also about 250 feet from the archaeological ruins of ancient Shechem. Shechem has a long history in the Hebrew Scriptures, and was the first capital of the northern Kingdom of Israel.

On one occasion in the Gospels, Jesus had a conversation with a Samaritan woman by a well – Jacob’s Well. This well was already a sacred site at the time of Jesus, since Jacob, the grandson of Abraham, and his family and livestock drank from it.

About 30 mi (49 km) north of Jerusalem is a low, 15-acre mound, known as Tell Balata. This nondescript ruin covers what was ancient Shechem. The tell rests in a long, narrow, east-west valley with the two highest mountains in central Palestine towering over it, Mt. Ebal on the north and Mt. Gerizim on the south. The Hebrew word shekem means “back” or “shoulder,” which probably refers to Shechem’s placement between the two mountains. Coming from the south, the major road from Beersheba, Hebron and Jerusalem splits here. One branch goes east, around Mt. Ebal, and provides access to the Jordan Valley and cities like Beth Shan. The western arm leads to the coastal plain and cities to the north such as Samaria and Dothan. Thus, ancient Shechem and its modern counterpart, Nablus, are in a very strategic location along the watershed road between Judah, the Jordan Valley, Transjordan, and the Galilee.