The 'Zwei Bruder' on the Rhine: Sterrenberg and Liebenstein castles above Kamp-Bornhofen, Germany

Although best known for his extensive series of prints of Egypt and the Middle East, Roberts spent much of the 1830s and 1850s travelling in Northern Europe. His only sketching tour to Germany was in the summer of 1830 when he journeyed down the Rhine, although he also passed through the country on his way to and from Venice in 1851. A watercolour of Kurfürstliche Burg, Eltville, on the Rhine, Germany was sold in these Rooms, 10 December 2008, lot 47. The 'Zwei Bruder', or 'Enemy Brothers' are the two immediately adjacent castles of Sterrenberg and Liebenstien, separated by two shield walls. Their proximity and fortifications gave rise to a 16th Century legend about the enmity of the two families who lived there.