| Method | Lithograph with tint stone |
| Artist | after David Roberts |
| Published | London, Published Octr. 15th. 1856 by Day & Son, Gate Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields |
| Dimensions | Image 178 x 130 mm, Sheet 295 x 200 mm |
| Notes |
Plate 217 from Volume 6 of the small format reprint of Roberts' The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt & Nubia. A view of the Bab Zuweila, in the Ottoman period known as the Bawabbat al-Mitwali, one of the medieval gates of the city walls of Cairo, Egypt. The gate dates to the 11th or 12th century AD, and is the last remaining southern gate of the Fatamid period. The gate was named for a Berber tribe that was originally responsible for guarding it. In this view, Roberts focusses on the detail of the lower gate, showing the patterned stonework of the gate's lower registers, but omitting the tall decorative minarets that distinguish the monument on the Cairo skyline. In the open area before the gate, a crowd has gathered. A pair of Egyptian guardsmen lean against one of the gate's pillars. 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 | 39043 |