David Roberts, R.A.

Inscribed and dated l.l.: Ponte Nomentano. June 21st. Rome, watercolour over pencil, stamped with Michael Ingram’s collector’s mark on old mount12.5 x 17.5 cm.; 4 7/8 x 6 7/8 inches, framed size 27 x 32 cm.; 10 1/2 x 12 1/2 inchesProvenanceBought in Bath by Michael Ingram, his sale at Sotheby’s 8 December 2005, lot 236, where bought for a princely collection in the Middle East until December 2024Roberts visited Rome and Naples in 1853. He greatly enjoyed Rome and produced many drawings and oil paintings as a result of his stay.The bridge was erected at the point where the via Nomentana crossed the Aniene river, a tributary of the Tiber, at the foot of Monte Sacro. Roberts drew the large travertine arch and the medieval crenelated fortification. Restored several times over the centuries, it was much painted by visiting artists.Michael Ingram inherited his passion for collecting drawings from his uncle Sir Bruce Ingram, OBE, MC (1877-1963, L. 1405a) and modelled his collector’s mark on that of his uncle.

KT633Fragments of a colossal statue at the Memnonium, Thebes Signed l.l.: 'David Roberts. R.A.' and inscribed and dated 'Memnonium, Thebes Dec. 5th, 1838', further inscribed l.r.: 'Dimensions of the statue/Between the shoulders [?] 26 feet/Circumference of the Head 54"/Shoulder to the elbow 13" [5]', watercolour over pencil heightened with bodycolour on blue-grey paper 32.7 x 48.9 cm; 12 7/8 x 19 ¼ inchesPROVENANCEPossibly David Roberts; Christie's, London, 13-20 May, 1865, lot 67 as 'Thebes: Fragments of the Colossus of Rameses'; Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 15 March 1990, lot 42; with Spink, London, 1990; Christie's, London, 16 November 2006, lot 128This temple on the west bank of the Nile at Luxor, was visited twice by Roberts during his voyage on the Nile in 1838. On the outward journey, on the way to Abu Simbel, he had visited all the temples on both sides of the Nile at Luxor, and on 21 October hired donkeys to visit the ruins at Gurnah on the west bank, noting in his journal: 'The head and shoulders of the Memnon lying on the ground is enormous one can only wonder how it got there - the trouble of dislodging it must have been almost equal to the erection ...'.The present drawing was executed on the return journey when he was on the west bank of the river at Luxor from 3 to 5 December 1838. Roberts noted in his Journal 'I have been very industrious today, thanks to a Thunder Storm, a most uncommon thing in this part of the world - The sun was quite obscured and the peals of thunder were very loud accompanied with rain.... Made four large coloured sketches two of the Memnonium and two of Medinet Habou.' (Eastern Journal, National Library of Scotland).The present drawing was executed on the spot, although it is possible that the colouring was completed later during the trip. This drawing was used as the basis for the drawing which was eventually lithographed.This temple was called the Memnonium or the Tomb of Osymandyas, one of the names of Rameses II, the king to whom it was dedicated. It is now more commonly known as the Ramesseum and is the temple from which another colossal head was taken to the British Museum, where it inspired Shelley's famous sonnet Ozymandias.

Signed, inscribed and dated c.l.: Jerusalem. april 11 1839/David Roberts, watercolour over pencil heightened with touches of white23.9 x 31.1 cm; 9 3/8 x 12 1/4 inchesProvenance: Probably Francis, 1st Earl of Ellesmere (1800-1857);Probably Dowager Countess of Ellesmere, 1857;Probably the Ellesmere sale, Christie’s, London 2 April, 1870, lot 22;Probably Mackay (purchased at the above sale);John Gordon of Cluny;Christie’s, London, 17 June 1969, lot 166;Spink, London (purchased at the above sale);Christie’s, London, 2 March 1976, lot 163;Purchased from the above by a private collector, until 2019Lithographedby Louis Haghe for The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Egypt and Nubia, London 1842, vol. I, pl. 23 (with the above title) and 1855, vol. I., pl. 23 (as Lower Pool of Siloam)David Roberts was one of the first professional British artists to travel to the Near East in 1838. He arrived in Jerusalem at Easter 1839, having travelled from Egypt via Sinai and Petra; later he continued north to Lebanon and departed from Beirut in May. Roberts was fortunate to ingratiate himself with the local Turkish governor in Jerusalem, who allowed the artist to sketch all the sights he wished around the city as well as Bethany, Jericho, and Bethlehem.The pool of Siloam is a rock-cut pool on the southern slope of the City of David, the original site of Jerusalem, to the south of the city walls of Jerusalem. In this work Roberts has drawn a number of the ancient tombs which are cut into the rocks and thought to be the burial sites of the highest-ranking officials of the Judaean Kingdom.Roberts’s eastern compositions reached a wide audience through 247 lithographs made by Louis Haghe, including the present subject. Originally published in parts, these were later bound into six volumes as The Holy Land, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt and Nubia (1842-9). Their enormous popularity reflected the contemporary appetite for material relating to the Orient.