Temple of Sabooa - Nubia
Watercolour
1824 (painted)
1824 (painted)
Artist/Maker | |
Place of origin |
This drawing depicts the partly rock-cut Temple of Ramesses II at Sabua, which, when Lake Nasser was created in the 1960s, was moved four kilometers to the west of its original site. Catherwood was a well-travelled architectural and topographical draughtsman, and later a railway engineer. This is one of many drawings made during his first visit to Egypt, in 1823-24, in the company of Henry Westcar, a wealthy gentleman traveller, and two other architects, Henry Parke and Joseph John Scoles. Westcar's diary of their journey up the Nile to Wadi Halfa and back to Cairo recounts their adventures with youthful gusto. The Searight Collection also contains a large group of sketches made by Catherwood, and possibly his companions, with the assistance of a camera lucida, a drawing aid incorporating a prism through which the outline of an image is reflected on to the paper.
Catherwood returned to Egypt in 1832 to assist in excavations directed by Robert Hay of Linplum, and in 1833 he joined fellow artists, Francis Arundale and Joseph Bonomi, on a journey across Sinai to Jerusalem and on to Syria and Lebanon. In London his watercolours were used to make large panoramas. Between 1839 and 1842 he twice visited Central America with the explorer John Lloyd Stephens.
Catherwood returned to Egypt in 1832 to assist in excavations directed by Robert Hay of Linplum, and in 1833 he joined fellow artists, Francis Arundale and Joseph Bonomi, on a journey across Sinai to Jerusalem and on to Syria and Lebanon. In London his watercolours were used to make large panoramas. Between 1839 and 1842 he twice visited Central America with the explorer John Lloyd Stephens.
Object details
Category | |
Object type | |
Titles |
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Materials and techniques | Pencil and watercolour, heightened with white, on grey-buff paper |
Brief description | Watercolour, `Temple of Sabooa - Nubia' [Nubia: al-Sabu: Temple of Ramesses II], 1824, by Frederick Catherwood |
Physical description | Watercolour drawing |
Dimensions |
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Styles | |
Marks and inscriptions | Numbered 18; inscribed on the back with title and date Feby 10th |
Credit line | Purchased with the assistance of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, Art Fund, Shell International and the Friends of the V&A |
Object history | According to Rodney Searight: - 'Bt Sotheby's (attributed to "Roberts") [12] Oct.1977 [201], £40'. |
Historical context | This shows the partly rock-cut Temple of Ramesses II, now moved four kilometers west of its original site to al-Sabu al Gadid. According to Westcar's journal (see notes to SD223), the party visited Amada on 10 February and Saboua on 11 February 1824. |
Place depicted | |
Summary | This drawing depicts the partly rock-cut Temple of Ramesses II at Sabua, which, when Lake Nasser was created in the 1960s, was moved four kilometers to the west of its original site. Catherwood was a well-travelled architectural and topographical draughtsman, and later a railway engineer. This is one of many drawings made during his first visit to Egypt, in 1823-24, in the company of Henry Westcar, a wealthy gentleman traveller, and two other architects, Henry Parke and Joseph John Scoles. Westcar's diary of their journey up the Nile to Wadi Halfa and back to Cairo recounts their adventures with youthful gusto. The Searight Collection also contains a large group of sketches made by Catherwood, and possibly his companions, with the assistance of a camera lucida, a drawing aid incorporating a prism through which the outline of an image is reflected on to the paper. Catherwood returned to Egypt in 1832 to assist in excavations directed by Robert Hay of Linplum, and in 1833 he joined fellow artists, Francis Arundale and Joseph Bonomi, on a journey across Sinai to Jerusalem and on to Syria and Lebanon. In London his watercolours were used to make large panoramas. Between 1839 and 1842 he twice visited Central America with the explorer John Lloyd Stephens. |
Collection | |
Accession number | SD.220 |
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Record created | December 22, 2007 |
Record URL |
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