David Roberts, R.A.

Sale, London, Christie's, 22 November 1963, lot 8, bt Agnew,

with Agnew’s, London,

by whom sold, in 1963, to Philip Hofer (1898-1984),

by family descent until,

sale, London, Sotheby's, 3 July 2013, lot 192,

when acquired by the parents of the present owners.

Harvard, The Houghton Library, periodically on loan until 1983;

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

This watercolour is a preparatory study for lot 318 in this sale. With Bethlehem following the curve of the hillside, the hills of Moab and the Dead Sea are visible beyond. A pencil inscription in the upper right of this sheet refer to ‘The Franks Hills’. According to John Murray’s Handbook for Travellers in Syria and Palestine (1858), the Frank Mountains or ‘Frank Hill’ was so named because legend had it that the mountain had been a stronghold of French crusaders for a period of forty years after the fall of Jerusalem in 1187. 

This watercolour once belonged to Philip Hofer, the founder and first curator of the Department of Prints and Graphic Arts, Houghton Library at Harvard University.