David Roberts

(Scottish, 1796–1864)

Christian and Mohammedan Chapels on the Summit of Mount Sinai [Gabal Musa]

, 1839

watercolor, gouache, and graphite on paper

titled and dated Feby. 20th 1839 by a different hand (lower left)

10 x 13 ¾ inches.

Property from a Private Collection, Taos, New Mexico

We are grateful to Briony Llewellyn for her help in preparing this catalogue entry.

Provenance:

Sold: Christie's, London, The Ellesmere Sale, April 2, 1870, Lot 111 (possibly)

Oakley, acquired directly from the above sale

Sold: Sotheby's, London, February 15, 1967, Lot 8

Mrs. Hayes, acquired directly from the above sale

Thomas & Agnew's, London, 1967

Private Collection, acquired directly from the above, 1968

Mathaf Gallery, c. 1977

Christopher Wood

The Fine Art Society, Ltd., London, 1979

Private Collection, United States, 1979

Sold: Sotheby's, New York, February 13, 1985, Lot 10

Acquired directly from the above sale by the present owner

Exhibited:

Manchester, England, Art Treasures Exhibition, Section 7, Drawings in Water-Colours, 1857, no. 755 (possibly)

Bristol, England, Baker & Baker with Agnew's, Exhibition of 18th, 19th, and 20th Century English Paintings and Water-Colours, 1967, no. 11

London, Agnew's, 95th Annual Exhibition of Water-Colours & Drawings, 1968, no. 48

Literature:

Lithographed: Holy Land, 1849, Vol. III, pl. 113. as Christian and Mohammedan Chapels on the Summit of Mount Sinai; 1856, Vol. III, pl. 113, as Christian and Mohammedan Chapels on the Summit of Mount Sinai (the lithograph illustrated)

Manchester, A Handbook to the Water Colours, Drawings, and Engravings in the Art Treasures Exhibition, London, 1857, p. 35 (possibly)

Lot essay:

Beginning in August 1838, Roberts traveled for eleven months through Egypt and the Levant (then called the Holy Land), during which he made a series of sketches that became the basis for a series of worked-up watercolors, including the present lot.

On February 20th, the date of this watercolor, the artist wrote in his journal, "To-day we ascended to the summit of Sinai, which took us two hours. Near the top are two small chapels. One covers the cave where Elijah passed the night, the other is dedicated to Elias. On the summit are other two, --one where Moses received the tables of the law, the other belongs to the Mahometans, and under it is pointed out the foot-mark of the camel that carried the prophet from Sinai to Mecca. The view from the top is the most sublime that can be imagined." (James Ballantine, The Life of David Roberts, R.A., Edinburgh, 1866, pp. 117-118)

From these watercolors, Roberts made a series of lithographs in the decade after his return to England. The lithographs were executed by Louis Haghe and eventually published together as The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt & Nubia (6 vols., London: F.G. Moon, 1842-49). The lithograph based on the present watercolor appeared in both the 1849 and reissued volumes published in 1856, in the third volume, as plate 113.