Bridge of Ronda
James Tibbits Willmore after David Roberts, 1835
Steel engraving
The engraving depicts a dramatic view of the bridge of Ronda from below, emphasising the tall, narrow ravine that divides the town in two parts. The view is based on one of several sketches that Roberts made during his visit to Ronda in March 1833, after having been to Granada and Málaga. The spectacular location of the town made it one of Roberts’s favourite motifs. Writing to various friends, Roberts described it as one of the most extraordinary of Spain, if not of the world.
After his return to London, Roberts transformed several of his Ronda sketches into elaborate watercolour drawings, paintings, and prints. Two views of Ronda (including the one displayed here) were engraved for Roscoe’s 1835 book The Tourist in Spain. Granada, with a commentary based on Roberts’s notes, describing Ronda as ‘an irregular town, encompassed almost entirely with a double enclosure of rocks. Its appearance is highly picturesque, but in other than warlike times, natural fortifications like these are more impressive than useful or convenient. In the bed of the deep and narrow valley runs a small river, called the Río Verde, or Green River [..] A narrow bridge of stone has been erected over the yawning chasm below, which from its prodigious elevation actually excites a feeling of terror in the beholder’s mind’ (pp. 132-33).
Title: Bridge of Ronda.
Author/Artist: James Tibbits Willmore (1800-1863, engraver) after a drawing by David Roberts (1796-1864, artist).
Technique and Material: Steel engraving, paper.
Size: 192 x 115 mm.
Published: Plate [18] from Thomas Roscoe, The Tourist in Spain. Granada, London, Robert Jennings & Co., 1835, facing page 233.
Date: 1834.
Marks and Inscriptions: lower edge, left: ‘Drawn by David Roberts’; centre: title as above / ‘London. Published Oct. 28. 1834 by Robert Jennings & Co 62. Cheapside’ / ‘Printed by Lloyd & Hennings’; right: ‘Engraved by J. T. Willmore’.
Institution: Barry Ife Collection.
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Details
Title
Bridge of Ronda.
Artist
James Tibbits Willmore (1800-1863).
Date
1834.
Medium and Support
Steel engraving, paper.
Dimensions
192 x 115 mm.
Marks and Inscriptions
lower edge, left: ‘Drawn by David Roberts’; centre: title as above / ‘London. Published Oct. 28. 1834 by Robert Jennings & Co 62. Cheapside’ / ‘Printed by Lloyd & Hennings’; right: ‘Engraved by J. T. Willmore’.
Institution
Barry Ife Collection
Plate [18] from Thomas Roscoe, The Tourist in Spain. Granada, London, Robert Jennings & Co., 1835, facing page 233.