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About the Artwork
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.
Inscriptions
signed and dated, in brown watercolor, at lower left: D. Roberts 1834
Exhibition history
European Watercolors Through the 18th Century. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 14-March 22, 1964). Water Colors from the Museum Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 23-September 16, 1973). The Birth and Flowering of British Romantic Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 1-July 22, 1990). Nature Sublime: Landscapes from the 19th Century. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 15-November 14, 2004). British Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art . The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 10-May 26, 2013).
Quick Overview
- Artist
- David Roberts (Scottish, 1796–1864)
- Date
- 1834
- Medium
- watercolor with gouache, scratch-away, and graphite
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 23.2 x 32.5 cm (9 1/8 x 12 13/16 in.)
- Type
- Drawing
- Classification
- Drawing
- Department
- Drawings
- Credit line
- Bequest of James Parmelee
- Accession no.
- 1940.563
Provenance
1912: (sale, Victor G. Fischer Company Collection, Anderson Galleries, New York, February 19, 1912, no. 656) ?-1931: James Parmelee [1855-1931], Washington, DC, by descent to Alice Maury Parmelee 1931-1940: Alice Maury Parmelee [1866-1940], Washington, DC, bequeathed to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH through the Estate of James Parmelee 1940-: Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
More by David Roberts in museum collections
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Open-access museum record · AT-00011068
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