The Scottish painter David Roberts, R.A. (1796-1864) was one of the first Europeans to depict the Middle East. Considered a dangerous and barbaric land, it was not until the Napoleonic invasion of Egypt after 1798 that any serious study had been done into the Pharaonic culture. Sir Richard Burton's infamous penetration of Mecca did not occur until 1858, twenty years after Roberts painted the wonders of the Muslim world and the Holy Land. The sketchbooks from Roberts' journeys were one of the most popular publications of its time, allowing Victorian Europeans a peek into the exotic world from the comfort of their parlors.

This impressive lithograph presents a unique vantage of Al-Khazneh, the mausoleum carved out of a sandstone rock face. There is excellent detail of the architectural features. Armed figures appear in the foreground. Produced in the tinted lithograph process and finished by hand with watercolor. Published by F.G. Moon. The work was included in the third volume of Roberts's The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt, & Nubia (1842-49).

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Condition: A

On a sturdy sheet with a hint of toning in the blank margins and a faint dampstain at bottom right, well away from lithograph image.