David Roberts, R.A.

Lord Francis Egerton, later 1^st Earl of Ellesmere (1800-1857), purchased from the artist, 

The Ellesmere Sale, London, Christie's, 2 April 1870, lot 37 (as The City and Lake of Tiberias, looking towards Mount Hermon and showing the Sites of Capernaum, Bethsaida and Chorazim), bt Colnaghi,

with P. & D. Colnaghi, London;

sale, London, Christie's, 19 March 1985, lot 144, bt Agnew's on behalf of the parents of the present owners. 

Lithographed: 

by Louis Haghe for The Holy Land, London 1842, vol. I, pl. 38 & London 1855, vol. I, pl. 38 (as Tiberias looking towards Hermon)  

Oxford, The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, on long-term loan, 2015 - 2021  

Roberts arrived at Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee on the 21^st of April 1839 and was to stay for two nights. The city was founded by Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great in circa 20 AD and was named after the Roman emperor Tiberius. In 1837 an earthquake destroyed the town and Roberts noted in his journal that ‘the part nearest the lake seems to have suffered most, the city wall, which is built of hewn stones, is in most parts thrown down and those remaining are rent from top to bottom.’¹

In this watercolour Roberts captures the sublime nature of Tiberias’s surroundings and in the foreground places a group of figures that survey the scene from a high vantage point. The watercolour was lithographed for The Holy Land series. 

^1.  MS Eastern Journal, National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh.