Plate 154 Luxor, Thebes (Courtyard of Amenhotep III) After David Roberts

Roberts has depicted the colonnaded courtyard of Amenhotep III in this picture. The courtyard itself is a 'huge open space measuring 168 feet wide by 149 feet long, surrounded on three sides by two rows of closed-capital fascicular columns.' (1) When Roberts visited this area part of the temple was half-buried and many of the columns had fallen to the ground and were fully covered with sand. These have since been excavated and the modern view is completely different to what the artist would have seen.
 
The drawings and watercolours from this sketching tour by David Roberts of the Holy Land and Egypt were collated together into folios and released over a seven year period between 1842 and 1849 by the publisher F.G. Moon from 20 Threadneedle Street London. This lithograph is an original First Edition version and was published on the 18th September 1843. Louis Haghe (the Belgian lithographer and friend of Roberts) oversaw and produced all of the lithographs for this series.
 
Medium: Original First Edition Lithograph, Half Plate, hand coloured on thick woven paper.
 
Half Plate 154.
 
Inscribed l.l. 'at Luxor, Thebes, upper Egypt', l.r. 'David Robets R.A. L Haghe Lith.', 25 x 34.5 cm (picture size), framed.
 
Condition report: excellent condition with the odd tiny foxing spot.
 
References:
 
(1) Fabio Bourbon (ed). Yesterday and Today: Egypt. Swan Hill Press: London, 1996, p.161. Translated by A.B.A., Milano.