RUINED TEMPLE ON THE ISLAND OF BIGGE, NUBIA [Being an Original Hand-Coloured Lithograph From] THE HOLY LAND, SYRIA, IDUMEA, ARABIA, EGYPT AND NUBIA

From the Standard Folio First Edition, limited to 500 sets only. A single original hand-coloured lithographic plate drawn on stone by Louis Haghe after David Roberts' paintings done on location in 1838. Printed on a half folio sheet 17" x 13.55", the captioned image, is 14" x 10", now presented in cream mounting boards 17" x 21" glazed behind clear mylar. Beautifully hand-coloured to the highest standards of the time. An example in excellent condition, clean, fresh, beautifully preserved.

Edizione: from one of the most desirable of all travel and colourplate books. an especially pretty image, the ruins beautifully rendered with colorfully dressed people scattered about them. the island of bigge, adjacent to philae, was part of the site of the tomb of osiris. only the priests from philae were permited to even set foot on the island, let along enter the temples.<br> we have a good number of impressive images from the standard folio edition of this classic work available for purchase. as well as many views of egypt we also have available, views of nubia, petra, sinai, the jordan, tyre, sidon and baalbec. please inquire for further details.<br> in the course of two and a half months in 1838, traveling some 800 miles south from cairo, roberts recorded the monumental temple sites along the nile in more than a hundred sketches. as the first british artist to sketch the monuments of ancient egypt, set on "plains so vast.that, until you come near them, you have no idea of their magnificence," roberts was well aware of the stir his drawings would create in london. according to john ruskin, writing in praeterita, roberts's drawings "were the first studies ever made conscientiously by an english painter, not to exhibit his own skill, but to give true portraiture of scenes of historical and religious interest."