Lot Essay
This drawing was not engraved for Roberts' Egypt and Nubia, though two other exterior views and an interior were, but it was developed in the oil painting of 1843 now in the Victoria and Albert Museum (see exhibition catalogue, Barbican Art Gallery, op.cit., p.116, no.146, pl.73, illustrated in colour).
The Bab el-Metwalli, or Bab Zuweyleh, is one of the old gates of Cairo, built under the Fatemids 1087-92. The two towers are surmounted by the minarets of the adjacent mosque of Sultan Muaiyad Shazhh.
Roberts wrote in his diary on 28 December 1838, 'Today made two drawings of the gate of Bab Zuweyleh, with its minarets. I am still bewildered with the extraordinary picturesque streets and buildings of this most wonderful of all cities'.
We are grateful to Briony Llewellyn for her help in preparing this catalogue entry.
The Bab el-Metwalli, or Bab Zuweyleh, is one of the old gates of Cairo, built under the Fatemids 1087-92. The two towers are surmounted by the minarets of the adjacent mosque of Sultan Muaiyad Shazhh.
Roberts wrote in his diary on 28 December 1838, 'Today made two drawings of the gate of Bab Zuweyleh, with its minarets. I am still bewildered with the extraordinary picturesque streets and buildings of this most wonderful of all cities'.
We are grateful to Briony Llewellyn for her help in preparing this catalogue entry.