Jerusalem from the North

Even before Roberts and his party had left Cairo, they were aware the plague had been raging in Jerusalem for more than a year. Despite this disastrous news, Roberts was desperate to see ‘the great city’ and so from Jaffa they made their way there and camped outside the ancient walls. It was the 28th of March 1839 and on the following day, 'Good Friday', Roberts learned that – miraculously – the quarantine had ended and the barriers to the city were to be removed. The whole population seemed to be pouring out of the gates to enjoy the open country.

As it was Easter week accommodation was difficult to find but they chanced upon a man they had met in Hebron who offered to put them up with his brother-in-law. Roberts spent the next three days exploring before making an excursion to Bethlehem, via Bethany, Jericho, and the Convent of St Saba. He returned to Jerusalem for a further week on the 8th of April before heading on to Nablus to the north.

This lithograph presents Jerusalem in the evening, with the fast-sinking sun floods the landscape with a dramatic light. A limpid pool fills the foreground and to the right, a group of people quietly talk, while their camels rest nearby and a woman fills a flask with water. In the distance, the Dome of the Rock and the city’s minarets are silhouetted against the horizon.