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 49, bt Agnew,

with Agnew’s, London,

by whom sold to J. Gerrard;

possibly, sale, London, Christie's, 16 July 1881, lot 93;

with John Appleby of the St Helier Galleries, Jersey, from whom acquired in 1986 by Agnew's on behalf of the parents of the present owners. 

Lithographed:

by Louis Haghe for The Holy Land, London 1843, vol. II, pl. 50 & London 1855, vol. II pl. 50 

Manchester, Art Treasures Exhibition, 1857, Section 7: Drawings in Water-Colours, no. 768;

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

In this watercolour, which was lithographed for The Holy Land series and was later owned by Lord Egerton (see lot 301), Roberts stands high up in the Ein Gedi hills. The convent of Saint Saba, which is dramatically rooted to the limestone cliffs, occupies the foreground, while beyond the Dead Sea is, as Roberts wrote in his journal, like a ‘mirror… reflecting the mountains on its still surface without a ripple.’¹ 

^1. James Ballantine, The Life of David Roberts, R.A., London 1866, p. 129