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Creator:
David Roberts, 1796–1864
Title:
From under the Portico of the Temple of Edfu, Upper Egypt
Date:
1846
Materials & Techniques:
Watercolor, gouache and graphite on medium, slightly textured, cream wove paper
Dimensions:
Sheet: 13 5/8 x 19 3/4 inches (34.6 x 50.2 cm)
Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:

Inscribed in graphite, lower left: "<...> from Under the Portico of The Temple of Edfou Upper Egypt"

Signed and dated in pen and brown ink, lower right: "David Roberts. R.A. 1846"

Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1977.14.4377
Classification:
Drawings & Watercolors
Collection:
Prints and Drawings
Subject Terms:
architectural subject | hieroglyphics | men | snake | temple
Associated Places:
Africa | As Said | Aswan | Edfu | Egypt | Temple of Edfu
Access:
Accessible by appointment in the Study Room [Request]
Note: The Study Room is open by appointment. Please visit the Study Room page on our website for more details.
Link:
https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:6050
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Roberts described Edfu as "the most beautiful temple in Egypt," twice making the five-mile journey to draw it on foot from his boat on the Nile. The monumental compositions and dramatic atmospheres found in Roberts's work may be explained by his early career as a scene painter in the circus and theater.

Gallery label for Connections (Yale Center for British Art, 2011-05-26 - 2011-09-11)


Only a few months into his sojourn in Egypt, Roberts wrote in his journal, “The voyage . . . [is] certainly by far the most important I have ever taken. My drawings, I feel, are possessed of great interest . . . . I am the first English artist who has been here, and there is much in the French work that conveys no idea of these splendid remains.” On his return to England, he developed his sketches into watercolors such as this one, from which Louis Haghe made the lithographs for The Holy Land. Roberts wrote that Edfu was “the most beautiful temple in Egypt” and twice made the difficult five-mile walk from his boat on the Nile to sketch its “exquisite form.” He frequently used architecture to frame his landscapes as he does here, positioning the spectator inside the building to provide a quasi-panoramic sense of being entirely embraced by the view. By bringing the spectator so intimately into these spaces, Roberts’s pictures were able to give audiences the impression of really comprehending them, not merely contemplating them from afar.

Gallery label for Lure of the East - British Orientalist Painting (Yale Center for British Art, 2008-02-07 - 2008-04-28)

British Watercolors - Drawings of the 18th and 19th Centuries from the Yale Center for British Art (Blaffer Gallery, University of Houston, 1985-04 - 1986-08) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

British Watercolors - Drawings of the 18th and 19th Centuries from the Yale Center for British Art (Block Museum of Art, 1985-04 - 1986-08) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

British Watercolors - Drawings of the 18th and 19th Centuries from the Yale Center for British Art (Toledo Museum of Art, 1985-04 - 1986-08) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

British Watercolors - Drawings of the 18th and 19th Centuries from the Yale Center for British Art (Portland Art Museum, 1985-04 - 1986-08) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

British Watercolors - Drawings of the 18th and 19th Centuries from the Yale Center for British Art (Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 1985-04 - 1986-08) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

British Watercolors - Drawings of the 18th and 19th Centuries from the Yale Center for British Art (Memorial Art Gallery of Rochester, 1985-04 - 1986-08) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

British Watercolors - Drawings of the 18th and 19th Centuries from the Yale Center for British Art (Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 1985-04 - 1986-08) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

David Roberts: Artist and Traveler (Hallie Ford Museum of Art, 2022-06-04 - 2022-08-27) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Edward Lear and the Art of Travel (Yale Center for British Art, 2000-09-20 - 2001-01-14) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]

David Roberts : artist and traveler, Hallie Ford Museum of Art, Salem, OR, p. 54, fig. 31, NJ18.R5422 A12 2022+ (YCBA) [YCBA]

David Roberts, artist adventurer 1796-1864, Scottish Arts Council, [Edinburgh], 1981, pp. 25 & 27, cat. no. 16, NJ18 R5422 G85 (YCBA) [YCBA]

John Ruskin, The works of John Ruskin, , George Allen, London, 1903-1912, p.404, PR5251 C66 1903 (YCBA) [YCBA]

The lure of the east : British Orientalist painting: wall labels, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 2008, p. [80], V 2577 (YCBA) V 2577 [YCBA]

The lure of the East, British orientalist painting, 1830-1925 , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 2008, p. 17, V 1879 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Scott Wilcox, British watercolors : drawings of the 18th and 19th centuries from the Yale Center for British Art, , Hudson Hill Press, New York, 1985, no. 62, pl. 62, ND1928 W533 1985 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Scott Wilcox, Edward Lear and the art of travel, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 2000, pp. 176-177, no. 195, NJ18 L455 W55 2000 (YCBA) [YCBA]


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