Distant view of Sebaste, Ancient Samaria

The present drawing is a study for the larger watercolour which was lithographed for Roberts' Holy Land, vol. I, 1842, pl. 43. Roberts wrote in his private journal, 'It is difficult to conceive any place surpassing this in the beauty of its position, or any spot more commanding in situation than that of the ancient Capital of Samaria, standing as it does in the more fertile portion of Judea, and enriched by the taste and wealth of the most superb of all its governors, Herod. I never was more delighted than when slowly winding round the brow of a hill it first burst upon me, bathed in the brightness of an eastern sunset. If, desolate as it is, the ruins of this city could thus strike the eye, what must its effect have been when its sides and summit were covered with the temples and palaces of Herod!'