This watercolour, like lot 80, is one of the twenty-one works painted by David Robetrts as an illustration to Bulwer Lytton's The Pilgrims of the Rhine, 1834. This illustration heads the chapter telling the story of 'The Maid of Malines', which begins with a young man, blind, calling to his dog Fido in front of the church of St. Rembauld.

The cathedral of Mechelin (or Malines) is more usually termed St. Rombaut; its tower, begun in 1452 and abandoned in 1520, houses a famous carillon. Roberts had probably visited Mechelin in 1826.

We are grateful to Helen Guiterman for her help in preparing this catalogue entry