David Roberts R.A. 1796-1864

Mathaf Gallery, London

Support This drawing on buff, wove paper is at present laid on to another sheet of thicker paper. This arrangement seems to have been done some time ago, and the work has also been conserved at this time. There is a small repair to the lower left-hand corner and a 1.5 cm supported tear on the left-hand side in the sky, and two other supported tears on the right-hand edge, as well as a crease in the upper right-hand corner. Otherwise the condition is good. Medium The condition of the pigments is good, although there is a small brown line towards the top edge which may relate to an old mounting.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

David Roberts travelled to the Near East in 1838-9. Arriving in Cairo at the beginning of October he hired a boat to carry him up the Nile. By this date no other professional British artist had undertaken such a journey. The Temple of Philae lies on an island in the second cataract of the Nile. Roberts described it as; ‘a paradise in the midst of desolation…. its ruins even at a distance, are more picturesque than any I have seen’ (Katherine Sim, David Roberts R.A., A Biography, 1984, p. 134). In 1902 due to the construction of the Aswan Dam and subsequent flooding of that part of the Nile, the Temple of Philae was dismantled and re-erected on a nearby island above the water level.

David Roberts produced several drawings and paintings of the subject, some of which were exhibited at the Barbican Art Gallery in 1986 (see, Helen Guiterman and Briony Llewellyn, David Roberts, 1986, nos. 118-121)