Descent into the Plain of Granada
1834
David Roberts
David Roberts (Scottish, 1796–1864)
Drawings
Descent into the Plain of Granada, 1834. David Roberts (Scottish, 1796–1864). Watercolor with gouache, scratch-away, and graphite; sheet: 23.2 x 32.5 cm (9 1/8 x 12 13/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Bequest of James Parmelee 1940.563 Later celebrated for his topographical landscapes of the Middle East, David Roberts’s first extended trip abroad was in 1832 when he traveled through France to Spain over a period of 10 months. This watercolor records a scene from Roberts’s journey from Madrid to Andalusia. He described the trip in a letter to his sister: "I jogged on a considerable part of the way on foot, happy and contented. Granada is in the most beautiful situation that can be imagined. It lies at the foot of a ridge of high mountains, called the Sierra Nevada, or the Mountains of Snow." Replete with burdened mules, a lone figure on foot, and sun-drenched mountains with a view of Granada in the distance, this watercolor vividly illustrates the artist’s recollections. This drawing was reproduced as a wood engraving in Roscoe's first volume, The Tourist in Spain: Granada.
- Maker/Artist
- Roberts, David
- Classification
- Drawing
- Formatted Medium
- watercolor with gouache, scratch-away, and graphite
- Medium
- watercolor, gouache, scratch-away, graphite
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 23.2 x 32.5 cm (9 1/8 x 12 13/16 in.)
- Inscribed
- Inscription: signed and dated, in brown watercolor, at lower left: D. Roberts 1834
- Departments
- Drawings
- Accession Number
- 1940.563
- Credit Line
- Bequest of James Parmelee
- Exhibitions
- European Watercolors Through the 18th Century, Water Colors from the Museum Collection, The Birth and Flowering of British Romantic Art, Nature Sublime: Landscapes from the 19th Century, British Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art
- Rights Statement
- CC0
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