Item
No. 11
The Pronaos of the
Temple of Kalabsha
On November
11 they began to descend the
river and Roberts mentioned
this in his diary with the words:
"Thank God our vessel's
prow now faces the north and
civilization". On the way
back he sketched, depicted and
described as much and as closely
as possible the country and
his people.
Just
a few hours after starting their
way back, they tied up near
the Fortress of Ibrim (No. 5,
6). The next days they visited
the temples of Wadi Maharraka
and Wadi Dabod (No. 7, 8), the
Temple of Dakke, the Rock Temple
of Gyrshe, and the Temple of
Kalabsha (No. 9-11). At Wadi
Kardassy Roberts depicted a
group of Nubians (No. 12) from
whom he bought some souvenirs
for a quite reasonable price.
Item
No. 16
The Pylon
of the Temple of Edfu
seen
from the Pronaos
From
November 17 to 19 they stayed
at the Island of Philae (No.
13, 14). On their way to Karnak
and Luxor, Roberts depicted
the Temple of Kom Ombo (No.
15), the Temple of Edfu (No.
16, 17), and the Temple of Esna
(No. 18). |
On November
26 they came in sight of Karnak
and landed near the great sanctuary.
During the next few days Roberts
drew several pictures of the
Temple of Karnak (No. 19, 20).
In his diary we find the sentences:
"Karnak is even more astonishing
than Luxor. Its magnificence
is unimaginable. Trying to describe
rationally what I have seen
would be ridiculous."
Item
No. 19
View of the Temples
of
Karnak from the South
Maybe
for this reason he only spent
one day, December 1, in Luxor
and travelled next the plain
of Thebes to depict the Valley
of the Kings (No. 21), the Colossi
of Memnon, and the Ramesseum
at Thebes. They left ancient
Thebes on afternoon December
5 and reached Dendera the next
morning and Roberts set to work
enthusiastically (No. 22). By
December 9 Roberts had 100 drawings
of all the well known temples
from Abu Simbel to Dendera and
he decided to be satisfied with
his work and to go straight
back from Dendera to Cairo.
They
finally reached Cairo on the
morning of December 21. Roberts
rented a house and spent over
a month there. Dressed like
an Arab he recorded the people,
streets, and architecture, drawing
more than two dozen pictures
of the town (No. 23 - 28). January
17, 1839, he returned to the
Pyramids after his first visit
three and a half months before
and he made some splendid drawings
of the Pyramids and the Sphinx
(No. 29, 30). |
