David Roberts

RARE Subscribers’ Edition. Approach of the Simoon. Great Sphynx and Great Pyramid of Khufu (Cheops) with the infamous hot cyclonic wind twisting up before the darkening sun. The most dramatic scene in the series, the mythic wind blows minute particles of heavy metal from North Africa to the South of France that appear to turn the sky orange, as it approaches the Mediterranean it becomes increasingly humid transforming into the Sirocco.

Roberts visited Egypt independently of an expedition relying on a limited number of subscribers from royalty to artists for funding. The subsequent lithographs were issued in instalments with Roberts regularly travelling to London to personally oversee the colouring essential to achieving the full sum effect of the landscapes’ emotional impact. The watercolour upon which the image was based served as the template for the large oil painting commissioned by Charles Darwin in 1850 and was later exhibited at Agnew’s in 1874; both remain in private collections.

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