Cairo, the Aqueduct of the Nile from the Island of Rhoda

Method Lithograph with tint stone
Artist after David Roberts
Published London, Published Decr. 1st. 1856 by Day & Son, Gate Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields
Dimensions Image 118 x 174 mm, Sheet 199 x 288 mm
Notes Plate 235 from Volume 6 of the small format reprint of Roberts' The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt & Nubia. A view of the waterwheel tower on the Nile, the source for the Cairo Aqueduct. The current aqueduct dates from the early 14th century AD, and was commissioned by the Mamluk Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad to replace the earlier canal built on the orders of Saladin to supply water to his Citadel fortress. The Mamluk aqueduct employed a series of four waterwheels to lift the water from the River to the level of the aqueduct. Roberts' view shows the tower on the banks of the Nile, with the aqueduct stretching off into the distance towards Cairo. A small group of Arabic fishing vessels are grouped near the inlet for the tower.

David Roberts RA (24th October 1796 – 25th November 1864) was a Scottish painter. He is especially known for a prolific series of detailed prints of Egypt and the Near East produced during the 1840s from sketches made during long tours of the region (1838-1840). This work, and his large oil paintings of similar subjects, made him a prominent Orientalist painter. He was elected as a Royal Academician in 1841.

The firm of Day & Haghe was one of the most prominent lithographic companies of the nineteenth-century. They were also amongst the foremost pioneers in the evolution of chromolithography. The firm was established in 1823 by William Day, but did not trade under the moniker of Day & Haghe until the arrival of Louis Haghe in 1831. In 1838, Day & Haghe were appointed as Lithographers to the Queen. However, and perhaps owing to the fact that there was never a formal partnership between the two, Haghe left the firm in the 1850's to devote himself to watercolour painting. The firm continued as Day & Son under the guidance of William Day the younger (1823 - 1906) but, as a result of a scandal involving Lajos Kossuth, was forced into liquidation in 1867. Vincent Brookes bought the company in the same year, and would produce the caricatures for Gibson Bowles' Vanity Fair magazine, as well as the illustrations for Cassells's Poultry Book, amongst other commissions.

Condition: Slight foxing to margins, not affecting image.
Framing unmounted
Price £30.00
Stock ID 39062

required