Convent of St. Catherine, with Mount Hor…

Wonderful, large folio edition lithograph of David Roberts view of the convent of St. Catherine.

The Greek Orthodox monastery of the God-trodden Mount Sinai is located at the very place where God appeared to Moses in the Burning Bush, beneath the Mount of the Decalogue. In the providence of God, it is at this site also that the holy relics of Saint Catherine are enshrined. This is the oldest continuously inhabited Christian monastery, with a history that can be traced back over seventeen centuries. The monastery predates the divisions of the Christian world, its origins extending to late antiquity.  The monastery has never been destroyed in all its history, and thus it can be said to have preserved intact the distinctive qualities of its Greek and Roman heritage. Members of other Christian confessions have honoured the monastery, coming as pilgrims to this holy place. But from its beginnings, the Christian inhabitants of Sinai belonged to the Greek speaking world, and it has remained so to this day.  The earliest description refers to the Monastery of the Holy Virgin, for the revelation of God at the Burning Bush was seen as a type of the Virgin Mary and the Incarnation. The monastery is also especially dedicated to the holy prophets Moses and Elias, who both came to this mountain, and who both spoke with Christ at the Transfiguration. More recently, it has been known as Saint Catherine’s Monastery. This remains its name today, though the monastery has not lost its earlier dedications.

Roberts sailed to Alexandria in 1838 and for eleven months, travelled up the Nile River, across deserts and mountains, through Egypt and the Holy Land, to arrive in Jerusalem on Easter 1839. He continued north to Lebanon and departed from Beirut in May. He recorded his impressions of landscapes, temples, ruins, and people in three sketchbooks and more than 272 watercolours. These sketches and paintings provided the basis for the lithographs published between 1842 and 1849 as, The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt, Nubia.

The lithographs were produced by Louis Haghe, the best and most prolific lithographer of the time. Originally from Tournai, Belgium, Haghe moved to England before 1825 and established himself as specialist of the hand-tinted lithograph. His sensitive handling of the lithographer’s tools imparts a range of tonality and colour as well as a sense of the delicacy and spontaneous quality of Roberts’s original images. Roberts’s plates are among the most popular images of famous sites in the Near East. As John Ruskin wrote they make “true portraiture of scenes of historical and religious interest. They are faithful and laborious beyond any outlines from nature I have ever seen.”

From: Roberts, D. The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt, Nubia. London

References:
Abbey, J.R. Travel in Aquatint and Lithography 1770-1860. London 1972: 385 & 272.
Tooley, R.V. English books with coloured plates, 1790 to 1860. Folkstone 1973 : 401-2.

Collections:
Library of Congress Washington D.C.: 41041032
Royal Collection Trust UK: RCIN 1075156
New York Public Library: b13861614
Met Museum New York: 903.6 R541 F Royal Academy: 06/4796