A street in Cairo with the mosque of El Rhamree

細節

David Roberts, R.A. (1796-1864)
A street in Cairo with the mosque of El Rhamree
signed 'D. Roberts, R.A.' (lower right)
pencil and watercolour, heightened with white, on the artist's original mount
7 7/8 x 6 1/8 in. (20 x 15.5 cm.)

來源

Painted for Elhanan Bicknell.
The Elhanan Bicknell Collection; Christie's, London, 29 April 1863, lot 121 (77 gns to Wells for Hertford).
The 4th Marquess of Hertford, and by descent to his son
Sir Richard Wallace, bequeathed by Lady Wallace to
Sir John Murray Scott, 1897.
Sold by order of the Court of Chancery, Phillips, London, 9 - 10 February 1914, lot 462.
with Leggatt Bros., London.
Arthur Keen by the 1920s.
Anon. sale, Sotheby's, London, 16 July 1987, lot 161.

出版

Art Journal, 1863.
Hertford House Inventory, 1890, p. 41.
Sir John Murray Scott, Inventory of 5 Connaught Place, London, W1, 1903, p. 118.
J. Ingamells, Catalogue of Pictures I, British, German, Italian, Spanish, Wallace Collection, 1985, Appendix V, p. 441, no. 71.
G. Bauer, Le Siècle d'Or de l'Aquarelle Anglaise, Anthèse, 1998, p. 112, pl. 146, illustrated in colour.
W. Hauptman, L'Âge d'Or de l'Aquarelle Anglaise 1770-1900, Lausanne, 1999, p. 139, no. 85, illustrated in colour.

展覽

London, Bethnal Green branch of the South Kensington Museum, Loan Exhibition by Sir Richard Wallace, 1872 - 1875, no. 620, as 'Mosque in Cairo, Egypt'.
Belfast, Ulster Hall, Industrial Exhibition and Bazaar, 1876, no. 92.
Lausanne, Fondation de l'Hermitage, L'Âge d'Or de l'Aquarelle Anglaise 1770-1900, 22 January - 24 May 1999, no. 85.

注意事項

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium

拍品專文

This watercolour is a version of a watercolour inscribed and dated 'Mosque of El Rhamree Cairo Jany 1st 1838[9]' now in Nottingham Castle Museum. The Nottingham Castle watercolour that was used for the plate published by L. Haghe, for D. Roberts, Egypt and Nubia, London, 1849, vol. III, pl. 99. The text for the plate reads: 'situated in the main line of the street leading to the Bab el Nasr. There are great symmetry and beauty in its minaret those objects of beauty, the minarets of the mosques, frequently burst upon the eye of the observer as they rise above the buildings, and strikingly characterise the architecture of Cairo.'

An oil painting of a similar view entitled Street in Grand Cairo is at the Royal Holloway College, Egham (J. Chapel, Victorian Taste: The Complete Catalogue of Paintings at the Royal Holloway College, London, 1982, no. 66, pl. 22). The catalogue confuses the provenance for the Nottingham Castle watercolour with that for the present watercolour.

This watercolour is one of the items from Sir Richard Wallace's collection that did not form part of Lady Wallace's bequest to the nation in 1897, and instead passed to Sir John Murray Scott as her residuary legatee. After his death his will was disputed, and this item was sold by order of the Court of Chancery at Phillips in 1914.

After his trip up the Nile, Roberts returned via Cairo where in December and January 1838-39 he drew the streets and mosques. The Mamluk mosque of El Rhamree stood near the Victory Gate and dated from between 1250 and 1517.

We are grateful to Briony Llewelyn for her help with this catalogue entry.