DAVID ROBERTS

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SUNDAY Feature on ART of Architecture -by Gautam Shah

David Roberts (1796-1864) was a Scottish painter. He was a house trained for seven years with a house-painter and decorator. He began his career as a painter and designer of stage scenery for circus and stage. He is known for his painting tours to the Egypt and the Near East. He produced large oil paintings on the sketches-studies he made during the visit.

J. M. W. Turner persuaded Roberts to abandon scene painting, and devote himself to becoming a full-time artist. Roberts worked with a lithographer Louis Haghe from 1842 to 1849 to produce the meticulously illustrated plates of the holy land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt, and Nubia.

David Roberts’ style was realistic and romantic. He was always drawn to the exotic. He produced well detailed architectural and terrain scapes, where the buildings become both lived in spaces and panoramic back-drops. He was expert in selecting areas with emphatic detailing and leaving out others with a fuzzy outline. He is recognised as one of the leading Orientalist painters of the period.

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