Past Perfect: On Terra Sancta

David Roberts (1796–1864), a Scottish cobbler’s son, showed such precocious artistic talent that when he was just ten years old his mother apprenticed him to a local housepainter-decorator. For seven years young David painted faux marble and wood on the walls of the well-to-do before becoming an assistant set designer at a theater in Edinburgh. Before long, he left Scotland for the brighter lights of London, where he not only became a successful painter of theatrical scenery but also produced oil paintings that were displayed at the Royal Academy. Spurred on by this success, Roberts became a full-time artist, […]