The Tombs of the Caliphs, Cairo

David Roberts was in Egypt from September 1838 until February 1839 before travelling on to Palestine and the Lebanon. He returned to London in July of that year having filled three sketchbooks and executed over 270 drawings. He then began to work on a set of finished watercolours which were published as a set of lithographs between 1842 and 1849. Prior to publication he exhibited his on the spot drawings in London, Edinburgh and elsewhere to encourage subscribers. In 1842, three years after his return from the East, a dinner was held in his honour in Edinburgh at which Lord Cockburn gave the following address regarding his expedition, 'he explored the patriarchal land; he searched its inmost recesses, and returned to his native country laden with the richest treasures, after having completed the finest pilgrimages of art which has ever perhaps been performed by a single man.' H. Guiterman and B. Llewellyn, David Roberts, London, 1986, p. 69.