| Method | Lithograph with tint stone |
| Artist | after David Roberts |
| Published | London, Published Octr. 1st. 1856 by Day & Son, Gate Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields |
| Dimensions | Image 118 x 172 mm, Sheet 200 x 285 mm |
| Notes |
Plate 215 from Volume 6 of the small format reprint of Roberts' The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt & Nubia. A view of Bab al-Nasr, the so-called 'Gate of Victory,' one of the massive defensive gates in the city wall of Cairo. The gate is flanked by a pair of rectangular fortified towers, and was built by Vasir Badr al-Jamali during his expansion of the city to replace an earlier 'Gate of Victory.' In Roberts view, the massive gate is shown from the side, looking towards one of the minarets of the Mosque of Al-Hakim, built in honour of the 6th Fatamid caliph. At the time of Roberts' visit the mosque had fallen out of use, having been repurposed by Napoleon as a fortress. David Roberts RA (24th October 1796 – 25th November 1864) was a Scottish painter. He is especially known for a prolific series of detailed prints of Egypt and the Near East produced during the 1840s from sketches made during long tours of the region (1838-1840). This work, and his large oil paintings of similar subjects, made him a prominent Orientalist painter. He was elected as a Royal Academician in 1841. The firm of Day & Haghe was one of the most prominent lithographic companies of the nineteenth-century. They were also amongst the foremost pioneers in the evolution of chromolithography. The firm was established in 1823 by William Day, but did not trade under the moniker of Day & Haghe until the arrival of Louis Haghe in 1831. In 1838, Day & Haghe were appointed as Lithographers to the Queen. However, and perhaps owing to the fact that there was never a formal partnership between the two, Haghe left the firm in the 1850's to devote himself to watercolour painting. The firm continued as Day & Son under the guidance of William Day the younger (1823 - 1906) but, as a result of a scandal involving Lajos Kossuth, was forced into liquidation in 1867. Vincent Brookes bought the company in the same year, and would produce the caricatures for Gibson Bowles' Vanity Fair magazine, as well as the illustrations for Cassells's Poultry Book, amongst other commissions. Condition: Slight foxing to margins, not affecting image. |
| Framing | unmounted |
| Price | £30.00 |
| Stock ID | 39041 |