Hand Colored Engraving by Roberts, Bethlehem, Plate 85

David Roberts (1796 - 1864)

Bethlehem

Published 1855

Hand colored Lithograph

This lithograph, Bethlehem, 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 town of Bethlehem situated on a series of rising hills, approached through cultivated countryside marked by fields of corn, olive groves, and fig trees. The settlement is shown as a clustered arrangement of stone buildings that culminate in the prominent Church of the Nativity, which dominates the highest point of the composition and is visually integrated with the adjacent Latin, Greek, and Armenian convents. Roberts presents the town as both a sacred Christian landscape and a living inhabited site, emphasizing its layered religious significance while maintaining careful attention to its agricultural setting and topographical form, as recorded during his 1839 journey through the region.

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lithographic projects of the nineteenth century and remains significant both as an artistic achievement and as a historical document of the eastern Mediterranean prior to modern transformation.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