Plate 234 Grand Entrance To The Mosque Of Sultan Hassan - After David Roberts
David Roberts visited the Mosque of Sultan Hassan on New Year's Day in 1839 and was particularly impressed with its entrance. His sketches of Cairo helped to 'increase knowledge of the various architectural styles that had developed in Egypt over the centuries, and this was sufficient reward to justify all the effort he had put into [his sketches].' [1] The Mosque was built between 1356 and 1363 and was 'designed as a madrasa dedicated to the four orthodox law schools of Sunnite Islam (Maliki, Shafii, Hanbali and Hanafi), and also as a congregational mosque for the Friday sermon...Sultan Hassan had the magnificent building erected in one of the most privileged positions in Cairo and lavished huge resources on it; however, near bankrupted by the increasing costs, he admitted that he would have abandoned the project if he had not been ashamed at the thought that someone might say an Egyptian sultan was incapable of finishing the mosque he had started. His death as a result of a court conspiracy put an end to all but part of his ambitious project.' [2]
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 2nd July 1849. Louis Haghe (the Belgian lithographer and friend of Roberts) oversaw and produced all of the lithographs for this series.
Medium: Original First Edition Lithograph, Full Plate, hand coloured on thick woven paper.
Full Plate 234.
Inscribed l.l. 'Grand Entrance to the Mosque of the Sultan Hassan, David Roberts R.A. L Haghe Lith ', 53 x 35.5 cm (picture size), framed.
Condition report: excellent condition. Small amount of foxing in the margin on the left hand-side of the lithograph (see photos).
References:
(1) Fabio Bourbon (ed). Yesterday and Today: Egypt. Swan Hill Press: London, 1996, p.214. Translated by A.B.A., Milano.
(2) Ibid.