Plate 56 Ruins of Semua - After David Roberts
Roberts drew this composition on the 16th March 1839. On the 14th, 'after breakfasting at the foot of the mountains that separate Wadi El Ghor from Judea, David Roberts and his travelling companions began the climb upwards, which soon proved to be extremely tiring and steep, to the point that the trail at certain points became little more than a sort of stairway carved roughly into the living rock. At the top they found a number of ruins that Roberts was unable to identify as either Roman or Saracen. Once they had moved through the pass, they finally began their descent into a valley of pleasant appearance, luxuriant and spangled with wildflowers. The trail began to climb upward once again to the top of a hill. From there, they descended again to another valley not unlike the first, where a number of camels were grazing, the property of an Arab tribe. Roberts some fresh milk from the tribesmen, and after so many days of quenching his thirst with brackish water, he found the milk absolutely delightful.
Not far off, they saw the ruins of a tower or fortress built on the brink of a deep gorge. The buildings seem to have been crushed by an earthquake; Roberts was unable to learn the age or the origin of the construction. The entire region bracketed by the Wadi Mousa and Hebron must once have been densely populated, but when Roberts was there, the countryside and the villages appeared to be in a state of extreme neglect or, in many cases, to have been entirely abandoned. The village of Semua, as well, which was described in the Bible as a prosperous town, was now nothing more than a village of sheepherders. Roberts reached the place on the 16th of March, just before sighting Hebron. Much of the population had left a few days earlier, taking their flocks with them, in search of new pastures but also - and chiefly - to flee conscription into the Egyptian army. In this illustration, Semua appears atop the hill, overshadowed by the massive ruins of a tower which may well have been part of the fortifications dating back to Roman times.' [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 January 2nd 1843.
Medium: Original First Edition Lithograph, with later hand-colouring on thick woven paper.
Half Plate 56
Inscribed l.r. 'David Roberts R.A.' and l.l. 'Semua, March 16th 1839', 22.6 x 33.4cm (lithograph size), mounted (42.3 x 51.4cm).
The original title is visible through a cut out on the mount 'Ruins of Semua' and the original text from the publication in 1843 is included attached to the back of the mount.
References:
[1] Fabio Bourbon (ed). Yesterday and Today: The Holy Land. Swan Hill Press: London, 1996, p.100. Translated by A.B.A. Milano.
Condition report: very good for its age. A few small markings, please see photos. Recently put into a new acid free mount.