David Roberts (painter)

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David Roberts; Portrait, published in the first edition of “Egypt & Nubia”, 1842
Isis Temple on Philae Island

David Roberts RA (born October 2, 1796 in Stockbridge near Edinburgh , † November 25, 1864 in London ) is one of the most important vedute painters of the 19th century . Thematically, his work can be partially assigned to orientalism .

biography

David Roberts came from a humble background. His talent showed very early, but it was not financially possible for his father, a shoemaker, to send him to school. At the age of eight he was already making money by painting surfaces with imitations of marble and wood; at the age of eleven or twelve he began to capture his surroundings in drawings.

He was probably taught the basics of drawing by Gale Beugo, a neighborhood decorator who Roberts apprenticed to for seven years. In 1815 Roberts moved to Perth , where he found his first paid job as a decorator. A year later he returned to Edinburgh and became assistant set designer on a second-class touring stage, the "Pantheon". In 1819 he got a job as an official set painter at the Royal Theater in Glasgow and Edinburgh and in 1820 married the Scottish actress Margaret McLachlan. The marriage was short-lived; Roberts' only daughter Christine was born in 1821.

In the meantime Roberts had become so well known that he was hired as a decorative painter at the Drury Lane Theater in London in 1821, together with Clarkson Stanfield , with whom he was quickly linked by a very friendly rivalry . His first oil painting, a view of Dryburgh Abbey, was exhibited in 1824; two years later he worked in Covent Garden . Roberts first became widely known in 1826 with his oil painting The Interior of Rouen Cathedral . The picture met with great approval, and in 1830 Roberts decided to work as a studio painter in the future and to devote himself to the study of painting. His involvement in the Royal Society of British Artists led to his being elected President of the Society in 1831. Despite the increasing number of private commissions, Roberts still found opportunities to travel to France, Germany and the Netherlands from 1831. The views they brought with them appeared partly as illustrations for travel books, partly as independent pictorial works, for which texts and explanations were subsequently written. He also made many sightseeing tours in Scotland itself during this period. The resulting work was published as copperplate engravings, but unfortunately only published once.

Orient trip

Approaching sandstorm in Giza

In 1832, on the advice of a friend, Roberts traveled to Spain , where he got to know almost all of the big cities and drew a large number of ruins and monuments. In 1837 a selection of these vedute appeared under the title Picturesque Sketches of Spain . This publication did not make him rich because his publisher had betrayed him, but it was the basis for his permanent international reputation and gave him the acquaintance of the talented Belgian engraver Louis Haghe .

David Roberts with his oriental souvenirs; Robert Scott Lauder , 1840
Granada - Moorish Gate (around 1830), engraving after a drawing by D. Roberts

Robert's two-year stay in Spain, which had taken him to Tangier , evidently increased his latent interest in the Orient . In any case, after lengthy preparations, in August 1838 he set out on the trip to Egypt , which was to make him famous after his death. For three months Roberts was on a rented ship on the Nile as far as Nubia and Abu Simbel and visited all the important archaeological sites. He even managed to be the first European to step inside a mosque and draw. In the further course of his journey to Jerusalem , and from there to Lebanon , he suffered a persistent fever in Baalbek , which prevented him from continuing his journey . Finally, on May 13, 1839, Roberts started his journey home from Beirut .

After Roberts had found the publisher Francis Graham Moon, all 247 lithographs of the journey to the Orient between 1842 and 1849 by the Belgian engraver Louis Haghe were published in six volumes in London. In 1841 Roberts became a full member of the Royal Academy and resumed his travel activities. David Roberts died in London on November 25, 1864 at the age of 68 and was buried in Norwood Cemetery.

Stays abroad

1824-1833
Travel through Europe
1838-1839
Journey through the Middle East
1853-1854
Travel through Europe

Works (selection)

photos
  • The high choir of the St. Paul's Church in Antwerp . Vernon Gallery, London
  • The interior of the Burgos Cathedral . Vernon Gallery, London
  • Aboo Simbel
  • temple Karnak Column Hall
Books
  • Picturesque sketches in Spain. Taken during thew years 1832 & 1833 . Hodgson & Graves, London 1835/36.
  • The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt and Nubia . Studio Edition, London 1993, ISBN 1-85170-260-1 (reprint of the London edition 1842/49).
  • Egypt and Nubia " . Moon Publ., London 1856 (6 vols.).
  • Cities in the north of Africa . London 1852.
  • Egypt and the holy land . Florence 2000, ISBN 88-476-0724-8 .

literature

Nazareth (1842)
  • James Ballantine: The life of David Roberts . Adam & Black, Edinburgh 1866.
  • Helen Guiterman and Briony Llewellyn: David Roberts . Barbican Art Gallery, City of London, 1986, ISBN 0-7148-2466-6 .
  • Fabio Bourbon: David Roberts' travel diary. Egypt yesterday and today. Verlag, Müller, Cologne 2001, ISBN 3-89893-000-9 .
  • Fabio Bourbon: David Roberts, RA The life, works and travels of David Roberts, RA Rizzoli, New York 2000, ISBN 0-8478-2312-1 .

Web links

Commons : David Roberts  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Roberts, David
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British painter
DATE OF BIRTH October 2, 1796
PLACE OF BIRTH Stockbridge near Edinburgh
DATE OF DEATH November 25, 1864
Place of death London