Roberts, David (1796-1864)
Brief Biography: David Roberts was born the son of a shoemaker at Stockebridge, near Edinburgh, on October 24, 1796. He was apprenticed to a local decorator for seven years at the age of eleven or twelve. As an apprentice he worked as a house painter and scene painter, but encouraged by his family he used his free time to sketch and paint local scenes. After his apprenticeship, he continued to work as a set painter in the theater. He first exhibited his easel paintings at the Fine Arts Institution in Edinburgh in 1822. The same year he moved to London where he continued to paint sets for the theater. His first exhibition in London was at the Society of British Artists in 1824. He gave up his work on theater sets in 1830 to become a studio painter. He became an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1838 and a Member in 1841. Between 1832 and 1833, he travelled extensively in Spain and Algeria. Five years later (1838 and 1839), he visited Egypt and the Holy Land, and in 1851 and 1853 he toured Italy. These visits provided the raw material for paintings and lithographs until the end of his life.

Brief Itinerary:
On August 31, Roberts departed London for the first stretch of his journey, traveling down the Rhone Valley, making his way through France to Marseilles, where he arrived on the 11th of September. Here he boarded the steamer Dante to cross the Mediterranean Sea, but landed at Civita Vecchia in Italy because of story seas. Six days after leaving Civita Vecchia, the steamer pulled into Malta, where Roberts changed ships. From there, he traveled to the Greek island of Lysa, where he boarded a different steamer to take him to the port city of Alexandria. From Alexandria he sailed for three months up the Nile to Cairo. From Cairo, Roberts ventured across the desert as far as Sinai, and then to visit the legendary Petra, and lastly Palestine. He arrived in Jerusalem at Easter at Easter and toured the Jordan Valley and all of the major places in that area.
Brief History of the Text:





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