Jerusalem by the Brush
Amos Mar-Haim
page 2
Possibly the best-known depictions of Jerusalem are those
of the British artist David Roberts (1796-1864), who visited
Jerusalem in 1839. his lithographs, published from 1842 onwards,
proved very popular. They added a certain splendour and majesty
to the historic sites, imbuing them with the romanticism typical
of this period. Forbin and Labrode had portrayed the every-day
Jerusalem; Roberts added something of the city's eternal quality.
William Henry Bartlett (1809-1854), a British architect,
began visiting Jerusalem in 1834. in the course of
two decades he published several books on Jerusalem,
and his beautiful engravings were often reprinted.
Nineteenth-century painters of Jerusalem came from
most of the European countries. Among them should
be mentioned Carl Friedrich
Heinrich Wener (1808-1894), a German, who in 1866 published
chromolithographs that were breathtakingly beautiful, excelling in
their attention to minute details of architecture and landscape.
Besides the many famous professional artists, amateur artists
came to Jerusalem as tourists and pilgrims. One of them, Lady
Louisa Tennison, published a series of lithographs in 1834.
Another amateur painter was Edmond Paris (1806-1893),
who served as a Rear-Admira in the French Navy.
He visited Jerusalem in 1861 and produced a series of
colour lithographs showing sites in Jerusalem, especially
indoor scenes, which, because of the darkness,
were difficult to photograph.
A large part of the verbal descriptions of Jerusalem were done
by historians and archaeologists, the most outstanding being Ermete
Pierotti, and Italian army engineer, who arrived in Jerusalem in
1854 and was appointed engineer of the district of Jerusalem by
the Turkish governor of the city. Pierotti was also and excellent
photographer, and the lithographs he published in 1864 were based
on his photographs, documenting the important sites of the city.
Among his successors was the Reverend A. A. Isaacs, who visited
Jerusalem in 1856. He too created beautiful lithographs from his
photographs, especially those of the Temple Mount.
In the second half of the nineteenth century, books that were richly
illustrated began to be publish alongside the monumental
limited-edition photographs albums. The list of these works
is long and impressive, but the most outstanding is Picturesque
Palestine, Sinai and Egypt, published in 1880 by Colonel Charles
William Wilson (1836-1905), one of the directors of the Palestine
Exploration Fund. In addition to the scientific research and
documentary information, the book contains hundreds of
wood and steel engravings. Many of the illustrations
were based on contemporary photographs of Jerusalem, and the engravings were mainly done by
the artists Harrry Fenn (1838-1911)
and John Douglas Woodward (1848-1924).
The transition to the popular illustrated book paralleled
the development of photography. Photographs of Jerusalem
increased in number, but while artists could use various
printing techniques, such as engraving, woodcuts, and lithography,
photographs could not be printed directly before 1880; they could
only be reproduced as engravings. At that time the artists print
was the predominant process, since it could be produced in larger
dimensions, hand-coloured and above all, reflected not only the
objective reality but also the outlook and aspirations of the artists,
commensurate with their talents. Outstanding photographers like John
Cramb published their photographs in the form of etchings, and
those people who desired an actual photographs needed to
look for the original.
The original photographs made in Jerusalem in the 19th century
constitute not only a source of documentation of people and places
but are also beautiful works of art.
page 1 |
