Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives with Pilgrims Entering from the River Jordan

Scottish-born Roberts was noted for his extensive travels. His best-known works include views of Egypt and the Middle East, where he journeyed between August 1838 and July 1839. He visited Jerusalem in the spring of 1839 with his travelling companion, the Norfolk vicar H.B. Gurnard

Roberts was sorely disappointed with Jerusalem, describing it as ‘a desert, two thirds of it being a mass of ruins and cornfields; the remaining third … of such a paltry and contemptible character that no artist could render [it] interesting.’ However, in 1841 he exhibited a large view of Jerusalem seen from the Mount of Olives at the Royal Academy; it was so successful that he went on to paint five further versions, including this painting, which Gurnard commissioned from him in 1842.