Hand Colored Engraving by Roberts, Jaffa, Looking South, Plate 61

David Roberts (1796 - 1864)

Jaffa, Looking South

Published 1855

Hand-colored Lithograph

This lithograph, Jaffa, Looking South, was published between 1842 and 1849 as part of the six-volume work The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt & Nubia, issued in London by F.G. Moon. Based on drawings and watercolors by Scottish artist David Roberts and lithographed by Louis Haghe. The image depicts the coastal city of Jaffa from an elevated vantage point, with its fortified old town rising above a sweeping Mediterranean shoreline. The composition is structured around a strong diagonal recession that draws the viewer from the animated foreground into the walled city and its skyline of domes and minarets. In the foreground, a diverse group of figures, including Jewish travelers resting among the landscape, occupy the rocky terrain alongside local guides and European visitors. Their presence, identified in the original accompanying text, underscores the port’s role as a site of exchange, while their distinct dress reflects the cultural and religious diversity of Ottoman-era Palestine. Roberts, working from sketches made during his 1839 journey, stages this foreground as a microcosm of Jaffa’s social and commercial life, bringing together Jewish, Muslim, Christian, and European figures within a single animated space that reflects both Romantic and Orientalist visual strategies and the publication’s aim to present the Holy Land as both biblical landscape and living society.

The work was produced from Roberts’s extensive travels through Egypt, the Holy Land, Petra, Sinai, Syria, and Nubia between 1838 and 1839, undertaken during a period of heightened European fascination with biblical archaeology and the ancient Near East. Originally trained as a theatrical scene painter, Roberts translated his understanding of dramatic staging into sweeping, highly composed landscapes that balanced visual spectacle with careful attention to topography, architecture, and local costume. The resulting series became one of the most influential visual records of the region in the Victorian period, shaping European perceptions of sites such as Gaza and Jerusalem long before systematic archaeological excavation. Widely acclaimed at the time as a landmark of print culture and praised for its technical sophistication, the publication is often regarded as one of the most ambitious lithographic projects of the nineteenth century and remains significant both as an artistic achievement and as a historical document of the eastern Mediterranean prior to modern transformation.

Dimensions:H 11 1/4" x 8" W

Condition: Some foxing on edge