Roberts made a detailed exploration of Petra as part of his 1838-39 travels. The present watercolour was painted five years beforehand and is derived from a drawing by Count Léon de Laborde (1807-1869), who had visited the ancient city of Petra in 1828.
This watercolour was included, as an engraving, in Finden's
Landscape Illustrations of the Bible, published by John Murray in 1836. This publication also saw the participation of other leading British artists such as J.M.W. Turner.
We are very grateful to Briony Llewellyn for her help when cataloguing this lot.