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Lot Essay
Bomberg spent the years 1923-7 in Palestine, initially supported by the Keren Hayesod (Palestine Foundation Fund). He was aided by the patronage of Sir Ronald Storrs, the Military Governor of Jerusalem who, in addition to assisting Bomberg by the purchase of paintings, also introduced him to the circle of European expatriates who appreciated the artist's depictions of their adored city.
At that time it was extremely difficult for a Jew to go into an Arab Christian church, but Bomberg was smuggled in by friends. Richard Cork comments on the series of works executed at this time, 'Although he had rarely allowed people to disrupt the eerie stillness of his Jerusalem street scenes, robed processions now make their way through his ecclesiastical interior and help to soften the severity of Bomberg's work' (R. Cork, David Bomberg, London, 1987, p. 164).
At that time it was extremely difficult for a Jew to go into an Arab Christian church, but Bomberg was smuggled in by friends. Richard Cork comments on the series of works executed at this time, 'Although he had rarely allowed people to disrupt the eerie stillness of his Jerusalem street scenes, robed processions now make their way through his ecclesiastical interior and help to soften the severity of Bomberg's work' (R. Cork, David Bomberg, London, 1987, p. 164).