Plate 239 A group in the Slave Market, Cairo - After David Roberts
Roberts drew this composition on the 13th January 1839.
'Accompanied by some of his new friends, such as John Gell and the Frenchman Linnet de Bellefonds whom he had already met several months earlier in Alexandria, Roberts set off into the desert, a few miles from Cairo, at dawn on January 13. Here, the pilgrims bound for Mecca were preparing to strike camp and being their long journey. There were "roughly 2,000 camels and at least two or three hundred horses." Surrounded by an incredible throng from all the Islamic tribes, among which those from Constantinople were particularly numerous, stood the emir's tent. Confusion was rife, but the great crowd constituted an impressive sight. Wild-eyed, half-naked dervishes, their skin and even their lips transfixed by skewers and daggers, mingled with the other pilgrims. After the midday prayer a gunshot was fired, and at that signal the seething mass moved eastward amid a cacophony of sounds issuing from instruments of all shapes and sizes, which gave the caravan a joyful appearance quite foreign to what should have been a very solemn moment.
The scene reminded Roberts of the Biblical passage describing the journey of the children of Israel through the desert. Although he had brought his drawing materials with him, there was such chaos that he was unable to get much work done. However, the experience was an unforgettable one, and there was a great deal to talk about on the way back. Roberts spent the next day procuring the materials he needed for his imminent expedition to the Holy Land; he bought water bottles, blankets, some pistols, a saber and various other articles. Although he admired the beauty of Cairo, as the strolled in the maze of the bazaar and the streets of the city centre he could not reconcile himself to the appalling poverty he saw all around him and the frequent scenes of tyranny against which his indignant spirit rebelled. He was always horrified by the sight of beggars lying in the middle of the road, young conscripts led to the barracks in chains, and hanged men dangling from a ropier the middle of the main square, exposed to public scorn as a terrible warning of the pasha's justice. What really made his blood boil, though, was the degrading spectacle of the slave market, a barbarous custom that shamed the whole country.' [1]
The drawings and watercolours from this tour by David Roberts of the Holy Land and Egypt were collated together into folios and released over a seven-year period by the publisher F.G. Moon from 20 Threadneedle Street London. This lithograph was published on September 1st 1849.
Medium: Original First Edition Lithograph, with later hand-colouring on thick woven paper.
Half Plate 239.
Inscribed l.r. 'David Roberts R.A. L Haghe Lith' and l.l. 'In the Slave Market at Cairo', 24.8 x 35.2cm (lithograph size), mounted (42.3 x 51.3cm).
The original title is visible through a cut out on the mount 'A group in the Slave-Market in Cairo' and the original text from the publication in 1849 is included attached to the back of the mount.
References:
[1] Fabio Bourbon (ed). Yesterday and Today: Egypt. Swan Hill Press: London, 1996, p.236. Translated by A.B.A. Milano.
Condition report: very good for its age. A few small markings and time staining, please see photos. Recently put into a new acid free mount.