David Roberts, R.A.

Probably 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 54, bt Agnew,

with Agnew’s, London,

by whom sold to S. Lord;

John Hopkinson, Lord Mayor of Manchester (1824-1902),

by descent to his son, Edward Hopkinson, M.P. (1859-1922),

by descent to his daughter, Lady Chorley, née Katherine Hopkinson (1897-1985),

by descent to her daughter, the Hon. Gillian Goodwin, née Chorley (1929-2000),

thence by family descent until,

sale, London, Bonham's, 15 September 2010, lot 139, bt Agnew's on behalf of the parents of the present owners. 

Lithographed:

by Louis Haghe for The Holy Land, London 1843, vol. II, pl. 55 & London 1856, vol. II, pl. 55 

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

After leaving Petra Roberts and his party made their way to the ancient city of Hebron where they remained for three days, from the 16^th to the 18^th of March. Roberts wrote in his journal: 'Approaching Hebron, the hills are covered with vines and olive-trees. On turning round the side of a hill, Hebron first bursts upon you. The situation is beautiful, and the houses, gleaming brightly in the noonday sun, reminded me of England. The children, who came out to meet us, were healthy and pretty.'¹

The present watercolour would seem to convey Roberts’s enthusiasm for his subject. It was lithographed by Louis Haghe for The Holy Land series and later, it almost certainly entered the collection of Lord Egerton, for it later appeared in the Ellesmere sale of 1870.

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