From humble beginnings as the son of a shoemaker, apprenticed to a house painter, David Roberts rose through the ranks of the Society of British Artists to become a Fellow of the Royal Academy. This improved artistic status gave him more leisure for travel, and he journeyed through most of Europe, extending as far as Egypt and Syria in the search for the picturesque. His sketches from the east reached wide audience through the lithographs of Louis Haghe, which were originally sold in parts, but later bound into volumes (of which this is one) with text by George Croly.