Plate 207 General View Of Kalabshe, Nubia - After David Roberts RA
On the 15th November 1838 Roberts had visited the Temple of Gyrshe in the morning and by late afternoon he was already at Kalabsha, where he ordered the tents to be pitched for the nights. 'There was enough light and the sketches he had drawn on the outward journey were quite detailed, the artist had time to complete two views of the great sanctuary. The temple, considered the most grandiose Nubian monument after Abu Simbel, was built in the Ptolemaic period on the foundations of an older one, dtaing from teh time of Amenhotep II and consecrated to the local god Mandulis, associtated with Isis and Osiris. Rebuilt during the reign of Augustus, it remained almost entirely bare of decorations, and the little decoration there appears unfinished. The 245-foot-long building could be reached from the Nile along a processional route that climbed to two huge platforms built at different levels, both in front of the pylon. The facade of the pylon has no reliefs, and its plainness is only relieved by the usual grooves in which the flagpoles of the sacred banners were fixed. The impressive size of the temple was justified by the strategic importance of Talmis, the ancient name of Kalabsha, which stood guard over a narrow stretch of the Nile; the building was converted into a church and fell into ruin after the Arab conquest.
In the lithograph, humble mud dwellings seem to huddle around athe massive bulk of the temple, and even cluster on the roof of the naos, as if seeking protection, to form a scenario common to nearly all the Egyptian archaeological sites in the 19th century. The place drawn by Roberts no longer exists today, as it was submerged by the waters of Lake Nasser; and that survives is the temple, which, between 1961 and 1963, was dismantled and rebuilt 25 miles further south at New Kalabsha, at the western end of the Great Aswan Dam.' [1]
Roberts writing in his journal on the 15th November said 'After leaving Gyrshe, towards evening we were again in sight of the Temple of Kalabsha, the loveliest in Nubia. Situated in a loop of the river in the middle of a stretch of barren rocks, surrounded by palm and acacia trees, it is only seen to be ruined from close by. The reliefs have such clear-cut edges that they seem to have been recently carved, and the whole, with its elegant proportions and delicate details, is in no way inferior to Philae'. [2]
The drawings and watercolours from this tour of the Holy Land and Egypt by David Roberts were collated together into lithographic folios and released over a seven year period (1842-1849) by the publisher F.G. Moon from 20 Threadneedle Street London. This lithograph is from the Royal Subscription Edition (1842-1849) which includes original hand-colouring from Louis Haghe's studio. There were only around 500 copies produced per lithograph in this edition.
Medium: Original Royal Subscription Edition, hand-coloured lithograph on thin India paper.
Half Plate 207.
Inscribed l.l. 'Temple of Kalabshee - Nubia. Novr 1838' and l.r. 'David Roberts R.A. - L Haghe Lith', 23.1 x 33.3cm (lithograph size) mounted.
References:
[1] Fabio Bourbon (ed). Yesterday and Today: Egypt. Swan Hill Press: London, 1997, p.93. Translated by Antony Shugaar.
[2] David Roberts' Egyptian and Holy Land Journal, 15th November 1838.
Condition report: generally in very good condition with a small amount of time staining, please see photos.