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 10, bt Agnew;

with Agnew’s, London,

by whom sold to Alexander Collie of Kensington Palace Gardens, London (1823-1895);

his sale, London, Christie's, 26 February 1876, lot 85;

sale, London, Christie's, 15 November 1983, lot 93, bt Colnaghi,

with P. & D. Colnaghi, London, from whom acquired in 1984 by Agnew's on behalf of the parents of the present owners.

Lithographed: 

by Louis Haghe for The Holy Land, London 1842, vol. I, pl. II (as Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem, 1855, vol. II, pl. II, (as Exterior of the Holy Sepulchre)

London, Colnaghi, English Drawings and Watercolours, 1984, no. 44;

London, Barbican Art Gallery, David Roberts, 1986-7, no. 162;

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

One of the first places that Roberts visited upon arriving in Jerusalem on the 29^th of March 1839 was the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and he was to return there two days later to witness the ‘Palm Sunday’ celebrations.

The church was commissioned by Emperor Constantine in circa 325-6 but it was subsequently destroyed and not rebuilt again until 1048. In 1808 there was a devastating fire but - by the time of Roberts’s visit – the building had been reconstructed.

This watercolour was lithographed for The Holy Land series and was one of those acquired by Lord Egerton directly from the artist (see lot 301 for further information on this collector).