David Roberts

DAVID ROBERTS (Stockbridge, Edinburgh, 1796 - London, 1864).
"Interior of the cathedral of Bayonne".
Oil on panel.
It has damage in the margins.
Measurements: 41 x 55 cm.

As can be seen in the work we are now bidding for, the Romantic artist David Roberts stood out for his paintings of sacred interiors. Thanks to his work as a theatrical set designer, Roberts developed an exceptional ability in the creation of dramatic perspectives that, as in this case, give light to the interior of the Gothic cathedral of Bayonne. As we can see, his canvases are magnificent Gothic church interiors with soft tonalities and sophisticated transitions between the spaces of light and shadow, in which the artist places special emphasis on spatial geometry - note the perspective of the Gothic altar, which help to effectively construct the space in perspective. In his detailed works, numerous small-sized characters fill the space, typical of interior painting, inspired by the Flemish church paintings of the Baroque period, a genre in itself. They are figures worked in great detail, perfectly identifiable by their clothes and physiognomies.

David Roberts was a Scottish painter, especially known for his scenes of the Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt and Nubia, as well as for a prolific series of detailed lithographs of Egypt and the Near East that he produced from sketches he made during long travels in the region (1838-1840). These and his large oil paintings of similar subjects made him a leading Orientalist painter. He was elected Royal Academician in 1841. He was apprenticed for seven years to a house painter and decorator named Gavin Beugo, his fellow apprentice being David Ramsay Hay. After completing his apprenticeship, Roberts' first paid work came in the summer of 1815, when he moved to Perth to work as a foreman on the redecoration of Scone Palace. His next job was painting sets for James Bannister's circus in North College Street. This was the beginning of his career as a painter and set designer. Roberts left Edinburgh with the circus at the end of the same month and travelled to Carlisle, Newcastle, Hull and York, returning to Edinburgh in January 1817.In 1819, Roberts became a scene painter at the Theatre Royal in Edinburgh. In 1821 he befriended the artist William Clarkson Stanfield, who joined him to paint sets at the Theatre Royal, and Roberts developed his fondness for landscape painting. In 1821, the Fine Arts Institution of Edinburgh accepted three of Roberts' paintings and at Stanfield's suggestion, Roberts also sent three paintings to the Exhibition of Works by Living Artists, held in Edinburgh in 1822. In 1832 he traveled in Spain and Tangier. He returned in late 1833 with a series of sketches which he transformed into attractive and popular paintings. He produced an excellent series of Spanish illustrations for the Landscape Annual of 1836. J. M. W. W. Turner persuaded Roberts to give up scene painting and become a full-time artist. Roberts set sail for Egypt on August 31, 1838, a few years after Owen Jones. His intention was to produce drawings that he could later use as the basis for paintings and lithographs that he would sell to the public. Upon his return to Britain, Roberts worked with lithographer Louis Haghe from 1842 to 1849 to produce the lavishly illustrated plates of The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt, and Nubia, originally published as Sketches in the Holy Land and Syria, 1842-1849 and Egypt & Nubia series. In 1841 he was elected a full member of the Royal Academy.