Eastern Spain
The eastern cities and landscapes of Spain were seldom explored in the early nineteenth century, as most travellers made a beeline from the Basque country via Castile to Andalucía. Neither John Frederick Lewis nor David Roberts visited eastern Spain, and the first three volumes of Thomas Roscoe’s The Tourist in Spain, illustrated by Roberts, overlooked this area. Engraved views of Valencia and Zaragoza only appeared in Roscoe’s fourth volume, The Tourist in Spain and Morocco. By contrast, the writer Richard Ford had first-hand experience of the region. In September 1831, he and his wife, Harriet, travelled from Granada via Guadix, Murcia, Orihuela, Elche, and Alicante to Valencia and Barcelona, returning via Zaragoza and Madrid to Granada in November 1831. Ford’s on-the-spot sketches taken during this tour were not intended for publication; instead they served as personal reminders of his observations a decade later, while drafting his pioneering Handbook for Travellers in Spain and Readers at Home (1845). The artist George Vivian, who visited Spain twice in the 1830s, also ventured to the eastern part of the country and produced sketches of Valencia and Barcelona, which were reproduced as lithographs in his album. Travellers were drawn to the varied architectural styles of the region, along with its Roman heritage and the sites and buildings linked to the Peninsular War.
Gate of the Serranos. Valencia
James Baylis Allan (1803-1876) after David Roberts (1796-1864), 1838.
Barry Ife Collection.
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Plaza-Catedral. Valencia
James Carter (1798-1855) after David Roberts (1796-1864), 1838.
Barry Ife Collection.
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Tower of Santa Catalina. Valencia
James Harfield Kernot (1802-1858) after David Roberts (1796-1864), 1838.
Barry Ife Collection.
Read the commentary![Valencia. View under the walls of the town on the banks of the Guadalquivir [sic]](https://zc-exhibitions.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/5.4-Vivian-Valencia-scaled.jpeg)
Valencia. View under the walls of the town on the banks of the Guadalquivir [sic]
Louis Haghe (1806-1885) after David Roberts (1796-1864), 1838.
Barry Ife Collection.
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Murviedro (Saguntum)
Louis Haghe (1806-1885) after David Roberts (1796-1864), 1838.
Barry Ife Collection.
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Convent of St Jerome, near Barcelona
Thomas Shotter Boys (1803-1874) after David Roberts (1796-1864) , 1838.
Barry Ife Collection.
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Landscape with the Puente de Diablo, Martorell (Barcelona)
Richard Ford, Autumn 1831.
Ford Family Collection.
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Claustro de Sta Engracia en Zaragoza
Alfred Guesdon (1808-1876) after Genaro Pérez Villaamil (1809-1854), 1844.
Barry Ife Collection.
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Leaning Tower of Saragossa
Henry Adlard (1700-1893) after David Roberts (1796-1864), 1838.
Barry Ife Collection.
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