David Roberts, R.A.

Anonymous sale, London, Christie’s, 17 November 1981, lot 188, to Agnew;

With Agnew’s, London;

By whom sold to the uncle of the present owner.

Between December 1832 and October 1833 David Roberts travelled extensively in Spain. By late April 1833 had reached Seville and on the 4 May he wrote to his artist friend in Edinburgh, David Ramsay Hay: ‘Suffice it to say [Seville] it exceeds my expectations. It is surrounded with walls (Moorish). Flanked with towers of every period in excellent preservation. The cathedral, partly Moorish, partly Gothic and partly Roman, is one of the Most Magnificent Structures of the kind in the world. The Moorish Tower in particular is worth a journey from London to see, but I must not say too much or you will be expecting more than a painter can carry away with him – indeed here alone is work for any Artist for a year or two.¹ He remained in Seville until October, when an outbreak of cholera forced him to return to England.

In the present watercolour, Roberts looks across to the Puerta del Perdón (the Door of Forgiveness), which is situated on the north side of Seville's Cathedral and gives access to the Moorish Patio de los Naranjos (Court of the Orange Trees). In the 16^th century this façade was remodeled under the direction of Miguel Perrin (1498–1552) and Roberts takes care to record Perrin’s four terracotta sculptures of St Peter, St Paul, the Angel Gabriel and the Virgin Mary, as well as his relief – illustrating the Expulsion of the Merchants from the Temple – which is positioned directly over the original Moorish arch. Behind and slightly to the left, the cathedral's bell tower (again with Moorish origins) looms overhead. In this drawing Roberts combines both great precision, say with his handling of the architecture as well as great energy, for instance his recording of the groups of figures that populate the steps before the doorway.

This drawing would seem to be linked to a steel engraving by James B. Allen, after Roberts, that was published as part of Thomas Roscoe’s book The Tourist in Spain (Andalusia) 1836.

We are grateful to Krystyna Matyjaszkiewicz for her help when cataloging this lot.

¹ National Library of Scotland.