The Holy Land explorers
Charles Wilson, a Royal Engineer in the British army, was sent by the War Office to Jerusalem to prepare a map of the Old City. He also published his “Ordinance Survey of Jerusalem” that was acclaimed as an important contribution to a deeper knowledge of the Holy City. In 1871 he published his "Recovery of Jerusalem" and between the years 1880 – 1884 his giant work “Picturesque Palestine” was published in several illustrated volumes.
Charles Warren, a Royal Engineer and an archaeologist, was sent in 1867 by the Palestine Exploration Fund to Jerusalem where he surveyed Herod’s Temple and conducted excavations in Jerusalem. His discoveries were recorded in two books: “The Tempel or the Tomb” and “Under Jerusalem”.
Edward Robinson, an American Biblical scholar, explored Palestine in 1838 and can be considered the pioneer of biblical geography in his biblical reserches that were based on careful personal exploration. His biblical researches were published in 1841 and 1856.
Flinders Petrie, a British archaeologist and Egyptologist, conducted many excavations in Egypt . In 1890 he began to explore and excavate many sites in Palestine where he spent many years of his life. Petrie wrote over one hundred books and hundreds of articles and reviews.
The list of the famous explorers mentioned above should also include additional names such as Charles Watson, Dr. Chaplin, Eli Smith, Henry Baker and many others that carried out the exploration of Palestine which contributed to the modern knowledge of archeology, history and topography.
The many artists, who visited the Holy Land during the 19th century in order to illustrate and record the visited sights, played a major roll in the study of geography, ethnography and history of Jerusalem and the Holy Land. Nowadays, these illustrations are the only evidence and records of the sights that have already vanished.
The Holy Land artists
The two best known Holy Land artists were William Bartlett and David Roberts.
William Bartlett was an English artist. He visited Jerusalem, the city he liked most, in 1842 and 1853. His wonderful illustrations of Jerusalem were published in two books which received emidiate fame.
David Roberts, a stage decorator from Scotland, is considerd the greatest of the Holy Land artists. His first visit to Jerusalem was in 1839 and his travels to the East continued till his death in 1864. His many illustrations were published in 1855 in three volumes where many views were dedicated to Jerusalem and her surroundings. The illustrations were immidiately highly praised and inspired many other artists to follow, visit the Holy Land and record her landscapes and the holy places.
William and Edward Finden published between 1835 – 1837 three albums of their wonderful engravings named: “Landscapes illustrations of the Bible”. The engravings, worked out in their studio, were based on sketches and drawings made by well known artists such as : Roberts, Calcott, Page, Harding, Turner, Sir Charles Barry and Thomas Allom.
J.M.W. Turner, a prominent English artist who never visited the Holy Land, based his wonderful watercolors on illustrations made by artists and architects who had travelled there such as Sir Charles Barry a well known English architect.
Sir Charles Barry, the architect of the “Houses of Parlament” in London, also a well known painter. He visited many countries, and in 1819 also visited the Holy Land where he drew many wanderful drawings.
Thomas Allom, an English architect, watercolourist and illustrator. In 1850 he was a founder of the Royal Institute of British Architects. He traveled to many countries and also visited the Holy Land. Many of his drawings were engraved and published in many travel books.
William Simpson, a prominent artist from Scotland, was sent in 1869 by the Palestine Exploration Fund to Jerusalem in order to illustrate some excavations which Sir Charles Warren had undertaken. Simpson’s drawings became a unique record of these important archaeological places. In 1877 he enjoyed pursuing his interest in archaeology by sketching Schlimann’s excavations at Mycenae, Troy and Ephesus.
The list of the Holy Land artists should also include the names of William Purser, Charles Bentley, John Salmon, David Wilkie,William Hunt, Games Tissot and many others.
Following the invention of photography in mid- 19th century, explorers of the Holy Land gradually began using photographs, and towards the end of the century, drawings and paintings were replaced by photographs. From then on just photographs were used in travel books and in exploration records of the Holy Land and thus the period of documentary drawings of Jerusalem and the Holy Land came to an end.
As the demand for such drawings of the Holy Land diminished, the arists also stoped their pilgrimage and tradition of drawing and recording the Holy Land.
Nowadays, the camera has become the best friend of the tourist and the photographer and numerous deluxe albums with their impressive photographs of the landscapes of Israel are available. Thus, contemporary paintings or drawings of these landscapes has remained scant because the illustrious tradition of the artists of the 19th century came to an end.
Today
This tradition has been revived nowadays by Moshe Kaufman who published his 33 drawings in black and white in the album named Landscapes of Israel. Not only his drawings, but also his life and professional and artistic endeavor are reminiscent of the 19th century.
Moshe Kaufman studied in Jerusalem, was granted a degree in architecture from the Haifa Technion. During the War of Independence he served as an offficer in the Intelligence Service of the Israeli Defence Force and with the founding of the State of Israel he was sent by the government to the far Negev to plan the future City of Eilat.
After four years of architectural design in the Negev and preparing the initial town-plan of Eilat, he returned to Tel Aviv where he practised as an architect. He participated in many architectural competitions which awarded him several prizes. Dew to his interest in archaeology he participated in tours to Iran, Turkey and Greece organized by the “Society for the exploration of Palestine and her antiquities”.
In 1992, according to his theory about the location of the Jerusalem Temple treasures, he published his book: The Jerusalem Temple Treasures Mystery and the Caves of Qumran, an imaginary adventure novel based on historical and archaeological datum. It tells the story of an archaeological mission sent to find the ancient and holy Jerusalem Temple treasures in the Judaean desert. |
