Born in Edinburgh in 1796, David Roberts was a Scottish painter best known for his prolific series of detailed lithograph prints of Egypt and the Near East produced from drawings and watercolour sketches he made during an extensive tour of the region in the mid-19th century.
Originally trained as a home and decoration painter, Roberts later established himself as a renowned topographical and architectural artist. Roberts undertook journeys abroad in search of exotic or impressive subjects, touring the Near East from 1838, arriving in Jerusalem in 1839 after traveling from Egypt via Sinai and Petra.
On his return to Britain, Roberts worked with a top lithographer of the day Louis Haghe to produce the plates of the sketches in the Holy Land and Syria, 1842-1849 and Egypt & Nubia series. Roberts funded this project through advance subscriptions which he solicited directly. With Egypt and the Holy Land being extremely fashionable subjects at the time, Queen Victoria became subscriber number one. Her complete set is still in the Royal Collection.