SPECIALISTS IN 18TH AND 19TH CENTURY BRITISH WORKS ON PAPER
Stroobant Edition
The Stroobant lithographs are named after the Belgian lithographer and painter who produced them called François Stroobant (1819-1916). With the popularity of David Roberts and Louis Haghe’s early Holy Land lithographs a French version of the book was published in Brussels by the Société des Beaux-Arts. It was called 'La Terre Sainte/Vues et Momuments recueillis par David Roberts, avec one description historique sure cheque planche' and was released between 1843 and 1844. Today it is a very scarce edition. Stroobant worked closely with Haghe’s lithographs and they are of a similar high quality. They also were printed on stone using tints but did not include original hand-colouring like the RSE did. Many have had later hand-colouring added such as the ones we have for sale on our website.
The easiest way to tell the difference between a Stroobant and SE lithograph is that the former has French inscriptions beneath the illustration and there is a facsimile with Stroobant’s name instead of Haghe’s or Roberts' on the works (Fig. 1). There is also no inscription included on the illustration indicating the place and date of the work which was included on the RSE and SE prints. The Stroobant lithographs are furthermore smaller than the Haghe equivalents. A useful comparison can be made between the RSE and Stroobant prints we have of the plains of Jericho. The RSE measures 33 x 48.5 cm and the Stroobant 26.5 x 40.5 cm. This is roughly 80% of the original size. There were sixty lithographs produced for the Stroobant edition and correspond with the first volume of the Holy Land released by F.G. Moon. The Stroobant edition also includes a publishers inscription below the illustration and the title of the work in a tinted colour such as orange (Fig. 2). Where appropriate the title has been translated into French.
Fig. 1 F Stroobant inscription on Jericho lithograph.
Fig. 2 Publisher inscription below illustration on the Nazareth Stroobant Edition.
