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Principal court of the convent of St. Catherine / David Roberts, R.A.
Summary
Painting drawn at the western end of the southern alley of the monastery, looking southeast and showing the dwellings of the monks in the foreground below the southwestern wall 'southern wall for simplification' of the monastery in the background from right to the centre, chapels and dwellings from centre to left in the foreground and the southeastern corner of the monastery in the background in the centre, and the water well of Stephenious (Stephen) and part of the southern façade of the chapel named after him behind the water well in the lower left corner in the foreground and Gebel Meraja and Gebel El Dier (Selib-Baraka) in the background from centre to left, from a 0.9 km distance. (A. Shams, Sinai Peninsula Research, 2018)
Saint Catherine Monastery was constructed between 530 and 545 CE by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I (527-565 CE). The monastery is famous for its numerous chapels, other than the basilica and its side chapels: "Besides this church and these chapels, there are seventeen other little churches or chapels situated here and there in the convent: 1. that of St Peter and St Paul, which is tolerably large and roomy; 2. St George; 3. St Stephen; 4. St Michael the Archangel; 5. St Basil, Gregory and Chrysostome; 6. Demetrius the martyr; 7. St Nicholas; 8. St moses and Aaron; 9. St Sergius Wachas; 10. St John Baptist; 11. St Anthony the abbot; 12. of the five martyrs Eustratius, Euxendius, Barbarius, Orestus and Eugenius; 13. St John the Evangelist; 14. St Catherine; 15. and 16. two Episcopal chapels; 17. one in the garden where the friars are buried." (The Prefetto of Egypt, 1722) The chapel inside the southwestern wall 'southern wall for simplification' of the monastery is now part of the present library building which was constructed adjacent to the southern wall by Fuad I in 1920s and 1930s CE (?), the King of Egypt (1922-1936), and completed by his son Farouk I in 1951 CE (?), the King of Egypt (1936-1952 CE). It replaced old hermit cells and a monastic quarter. (A. Shams, Sinai Peninsula Research, 2018)
Illus. in: The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt and Nubia / from drawings made on the spot by David Roberts ... ; lithographed by Louis Haghe. London : F.G. Moon, 1842-1845, v. 3, pts. 19-20, p. 8.
Surrogate reference copy available in: The Holy Land / David Roberts. Tel-Aviv, Israel : Terra Sancta Arts, 1982, v. 5, pl. 117, p. 8.
Tooley, no. 119
David Roberts, a Scottish painter, was born in 1796. His father was a poor shoemaker. From an early age, Roberts displayed a distinct artistic talent. Since age 10 he was apprenticed to a house-painter. In 1816, the young David joined a troupe of traveling pantomimists as a theatrical backdrop painter. Eventually, he got a position as a principal painter at the Theatre Royal, Glasgow, following that by employment, in 1820-21, at the Theatre Royal, Edinburgh and in 1823, the Drury Lane Theatre in London. Roberts made trips to Europe, sketching monuments and cathedrals with photographic precision. He turned these sketches into his first real “romantic travel” paintings exhibited and sold at ever-increasing prices. In 1830 he was elected president of the Society of British Artists. In 1832-1837 Roberts visited Burgos, Madrid, Toledo, Segovia, Cordova, Granada, Malaga, Gibraltar, Cadiz and Seville. In 1838 he sailed to Malta, the Greek Cycladian isles, and Egypt. In Cairo, after visiting the Pyramids of Geza, he wrote: “Not much struck with the size of the great one till I began the ascent, which is no joke. The Sphinx pleased me even more than the Pyramids... I cannot express my feelings on seeing these vast monuments.” Roberts left Cairo on 8 February 1839 to begin his trek to Palestine where Roberts drew sketches that would become some of the Holy Land’s most memorable plates. Roberts then went to Petra, that legendary rock-carved city. David Roberts travel lithographs were sketched in 1832-1840 and produced from 1842-49 by London publisher F.G. Moon. Hundreds of prints were made of each drawing from the lithographer’s original stone plate. David Roberts became a member of at least nine societies and academies. Roberts was at work upon a picture of St. Paul’s Cathedral, when he died suddenly at the age of sixty-eight, in 1864.
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