FDA-D.436-2010
Parts
Object number
FDA-D.436-2010
Object type
Identification
Title
Mosque of Sultan Hassan, Cairo
Pilkington
Pilkington
Title Type
assigned by cataloguer
collection
collection
Comments
Roberts reached Egypt in September 1838. At the beginning of October, he set out up the Nile, and did not return to Cairo until 21 December. He then allowed himself just a few days' respite before beginning his study of the city's architecture. This drawing of the Mosque of Sultan Hassan is one of two Roberts made on his first day working in Cairo. He later recorded that he regarded it as the 'finest' of the city's 400 mosques, and returned to make further drawings on several more occasions during the weeks he spent in the city before leaving for Sinai on 7 February. Roberts obtained permission to draw inside the mosques, something which had been denied to previous European artists, provided he dressed in local costurme. He must have been glad of this camouflage, for elsewhere he proved too much of a curiosity for the local people. On 1 Januray 1839, Roberts recorded in his diary, 'Today I have stood working in the crowded streets of Cairo, jostled and stared at till I came home sick. No one in looking over my sketches will ever think of the trouble the collection of them has cost me; but, as they will add to the knowledge in Europe of the various styles of architecture exisitng in different countries and ages, I am well satisfied'.
Other number
Pi 164
Description
Dimensions
height (actual size): 489mm
width (actual size): 324mm
width (actual size): 324mm
Inscription
Inscribed as title and dated 'Decr. 26th 1838' (lower left), and inscribed 'Mosque of Mah Modec' (lower right)
Materials & techniques note
Pencil and watercolour heightened with white on grey paper
Production
Person
Roberts, David, 1796 - 1864 (Artist)
Date
1838
History and association
Object history note
Exhibited: London, Barbican Art Gallery, David Roberts, 1986 (136); A Genius for Watercolour, Christie’s 2003, no. 63.
Previous ownership
Pilkington, Alan, 1879 - 1973: Bequeathed to Eton by Alan Pilkington, 1973
References
• Wilcox, T., A Genius for Watercolour; Watercolours from the Eton College Collection, Christie's exhibition catalogue, London, 2003 (p. 71), Catalogue number: 63
