Morocco TETOUAN MOSQUE SIDI SAIDI CHURCH LADY VICTORY ~ 1837 Art Print Engraving

Description: TETUAN. - From the SouthArtist: Drawn by David Roberts____________ Engraver: Engraved by T. Jeavons Note: the title in the table above is printed below the engraving CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE 19th CENTURY ANTIQUE PRINTS LIKE THIS ONE!! THIS PRINT IS FROM THE LATE 1830s & IS NOT A MODERN REPRODUCTION IN ANY WAY! FROM THE ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION: About half-past two o'clock in the afternoon, we caught the first view of Tetuan, still several miles distant, its dazzling cluster of white buildings contrasting most strikingly with the deep blue of the Mediterranean in the back ground. In fact, it appeared like a snowy streak almost on the verge of the horizon. Our direction now was about due east. The road in this part of the journey is bordered with low trees and shrubs, covered in many places up to the top by the tendrils of the wild vine; and here and there, stretching back from the road, are patches of green sward, on one of which we observed a group of Arabs surrounded by their camels. Like their kindred tribes in all parts of the world, they were tattooed upon the chin with lines from the Koran, impressed on the skin in blue characters. Our guide had informed us when the city first hove in sight, as our nautical travellers would say, that it would be yet some time before we reached it. In fact, he grew quite poetical upon the subject, and compared it to a mirage, which flies along the desert at the approach of the traveller. But Tetuan is luckily not gifted with the faculty of flying very fast, or of vanishing when one comes up to it; and accordingly, about six o'clock, just three hours and a half from the time it came first in sight, we entered this truly Moorish city, with its double walls and superb gateways. Having passed the first gate, we skirted along the second wall for a considerable way before we reached the second, where we expected to be detained until word should be conveyed to the governor of the arrival of two Christian travellers. BIOGRAPHY OF ARTIST: David Roberts (1796-1864) was a Scottish painter who was born at Stockbridge, Edinburgh, on the 24th of October 1796. He was apprenticed by his father, a shoemaker, for seven years to a painter and house-decorator; and during this time he employed his evenings in the study of art. In 1820 he formed the acquaintance of Clarkson Stanfield, then painting at the Pantheon, Edinburgh, at whose suggestion he sent three pictures in 1822 to the Exhibition of Works by Living Artists, held in Edinburgh. In the same year he removed to London, where he worked for the Coburg Theatre, and was afterwards employed, along with Stanfield, at Drury Lane. In 1824 he exhibited at the British Institution a view of Dryburgh Abbey, and sent two works to the first exhibition of the Society of British Artists, of which he was elected president in 1831. In the same autumn he visited Normandy, and the works which were the results of this excursion began to lay the foundation of the artist's reputation-one of them, a view of Rouen Cathedral, being sold for eighty guineas. His scenes for an opera, The Seraglio, executed two years later, and the scenery for a pantomime dealing with the naval victory of Navarino, and two panoramas executed jointly by him and Stanfield, were among his last work for the theatres. In 1829 he exhibited the " Departure of the Israelites from Egypt," in which his style first becomes apparent. In 1832-33, was to Spain, a country then little known to his compatriots. From Gilbraltar he made a short trip to Morocco, to Tangiers and Tetuan, his first African experience, returning in the end of 1833 with a supply of effective sketches, elaborated into attractive and popular paintings. His "Interior of Seville Cathedral" was exhibited in the British Institution in 1834, and sold for £300; and he executed a fine series of Spanish illustrations for the Landscape Annual of 1836, while in 1837 a selection of his Picturesque Sketches in Spain was reproduced by lithography. In the five years between the two journeys, Roberts earned enough from sales and oils and watercolors, and from commissions for book illustrations, to undertake his second expensive expedition. He had read as much as he could about the countries he planned to visit which had hitherto been hardly touched by British artists. Roberts left London in August 1838. He traveled through France to Marseilles, sailed via Malta and Greece to Alexandria, which he reached on September 24th. While he was away he kept a journal, written in pencil, of which one small fragment survives; the rest was transcribed by his young daughter into two leatherbound volumes. With the help of the British counsul at Alexandria, Roberts hired a boat, its eight-man crew, a reis, and a servant. He went to Cairo and spent a day or two there, seeing the pyramids and the Sphinx, then went on to his river journey. Like most of the artists making the same trip, he did most of his drawing on the way downriver. The material collected by Roberts over his travels was to serve him for many more years. The main short-term result was the six volumes of lithographs for which he is best known. The volumes were described as "the most ambitious work ever published in England with lithographed plates." They were issued to subscribers in monthly installments over a number of years. The next ten years of his life were mainly spent in elaborating these materials. An extensive series of drawings was lithographed by Louis Haghe in Sketches in the Holy Land and Syria, 1842-1849. In 1851, and again in 1853, Roberts visited Italy, painting the "Ducal Palace, Venice," bought by Lord Londesborough, the" Interior of the Basilica of St Peter's, Rome," "Christmas Day, 1853," and "Rome from the Convent of St Onofrio," presented to the Royal Scottish Academy. His last volume of illustrations, Italy, Classical, Historical and Picturesque, was published in 1859. He also executed, by command of Queen Victoria, a picture of the opening of the Great Exhibition of 1851. In. 1839 he was elected an associate and in 1841 a full member of the Royal Academy; and in 1858 he was presented with the freedom of the city of Edinburgh. The last years of his life were occupied with a series of views of London from the Thames. He had executed six of these, and was at work upon a picture of St Paul's Cathedral, when, on the 25th November 1864, he died suddenly of apoplexy. A Life of Roberts, compiled from his journals and other sources by' James Ballantine, with etchings and pen-and-ink sketches by the artist, appeared in Edinburgh in 1866. PRINT DATE: This lithograph was printed in 1837; it is not a modern reproduction in any way. PRINT SIZE: Overall print size is 4 1/2 inches by 7 inches including white borders, actual scene is 3 3/4 inches by 5 1/2 inches. PRINT CONDITION: Condition is excellent. Bright and clean. Blank on reverse. Paper is quality woven rag stock. SHIPPING: Buyer to pay shipping, domestic orders receives priority mail, international orders receive regular mail unless otherwise asked for. We take a variety of payment options, more payment details will be in our email after auction close. We pack properly to protect your item! Please note: the terms used in our auctions for engraving, heliogravure, lithograph, print, plate, photogravure etc. are ALL prints on paper, and NOT blocks of steel or wood. "ENGRAVINGS", the term commonly used for these paper prints, were the most common method in the 1700s and 1800s for illustrating old books, and these paper prints or "engravings" were inserted into the book with a tissue guard or onion skin frontis to protect them from transferring the image to the opposite page. These prints were usually on much thicker quality woven rag stock paper, although many were also printed and issued as loose stand alone lithographs. So this auction is for an antique paper print(s), probably from an old book, of very high quality and usually on very thick rag stock paper. EXTREMELY RARE TO FIND IN THIS EXCELLENT CONDITION!

Price: 22.39 USD

Location: New Providence, New Jersey

End Time: 2024-08-06T14:51:09.000Z

Shipping Cost: 7.95 USD