Old Buildings on the Darro, Granada

David Roberts painted these old buildings on the Darro in Granada in 1834, during his landmark journey through Spain and North Africa that produced some of the finest architectural paintings of the Romantic era. Roberts, a Scottish-born painter, was the preeminent British artist of Middle Eastern and Spanish subjects, and his views of the Alhambra and Granada became iconic images of Moorish Spain. His Spanish drawings and paintings were published as lithographs that shaped European perceptions of Iberian architecture.

Roberts renders the Moorish and medieval buildings with the architectural precision of his training as a scene painter, combined with atmospheric sensitivity to the warm Spanish light. The oil on canvas captures the textured, weathered surfaces of the old buildings with confident, descriptive brushwork.