Shipping on the Thames at Greenwich

David Roberts (1796 - 1864) worked on various theatre sets in London. He also had a passion for travel that led him to journey both through Europe and further afield to Syria and Egypt, where he painted many of the stunning water-colours for which he is best known today. Around this time he became curious about lithography and he made a number of prints of his own paintings. These were hugely popular at the time and remain sought-after. Roberts is an important landscape artist whose fabulous use of colours influenced Dutch painters of the nineteenth century.