Minneapolis Institute of Art

Part of the Portico of Edfou

David Roberts; Lithographer: Louis Haghe; Publisher: Sir Francis Graham Moon

Date

1846

Medium

Tinted and hand-colored lithograph

Department

European Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

In 1838, Scottish painter David Roberts toured the Near East, making him one of the first British artists to gain first-hand knowledge of the region. He went from Egypt to the Sinai and Petra, arriving in Jerusalem at Easter 1839. Remaining there for a few weeks, he then continued north to Lebanon and departed from Beirut in May. From the outset of his journey, Roberts planned to publish a great set of Near-Eastern views, which eventually appeared as The Holy Land, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt and Nubia. He worked with lithographer Louis Haghe (1806-1885) to develop a six-volume magnum opus, containing 247 hand-colored lithographs based on his on-the-spot drawings. To fund the project, he exhibited his original drawings in London and used the exhibition catalogue as a prospectus to recruit subscribers. Four hundred signed up, and the series was published in parts from 1842 to 1849.This was one of the 19th century's most elaborate topographical publications illustrated with hand-colored lithographs. It was also one of the last, for photography soon became the preferred medium for views of far off lands. Nonetheless, Roberts's and Haghe's prints remained central to understanding of Egypt and the Holy Land in Victorian Britain. The Temple of Edfu is located on the west bank of the Nile in Edfu, Upper Egypt. It was built during the Ptolemaic period, between 237 and 57 BCE and is dedicated to the god Horus. Due to Roman Emperor Theodosius I's persecution of pagans and ban on non-Christian worship within the Empire, the temple fell into disuse, and over time sand from the desert and silt from the Nile buried the temple in some 39 feet of sediment. As Roberts shows us in this view of the north side, the temple itself became the foundation for later, more modest structures. Great Britain, Europe

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