Important British Painting: David Roberts ‘Oberwesel’, 1829
An exciting discovery in Geelong: a small oil painting, signed and dated, identified as a long-lost David Roberts original — known from a print engraved in 1831 and published in 1832. It depicts a picturesque stretch of the Rhine river, with the Round Tower of Oberwesel and other fortifications.
David Roberts was a Scottish artist who began his career in the 1820s as a house decorator and set-maker for a circus and various theatres. He began travelling and painting in the late 1820s, and this Rhine view dates from that early period — just as he was getting established.
The Print Evidence — Literary Souvenir, 1832
An article in The Bookseller, December 1858, confirms the importance of the original: The Literary Souvenir paid “one hundred and fifty guineas… for the ‘Oberwesel’ of David Roberts, by Goodall, executed for this work.” One hundred and fifty guineas in 1832 was a very substantial sum — equivalent to many thousands today.
The Artist — David Roberts
