Ten measures of beauty descended to the world; nine were taken by Jerusalem and one by the rest of the world. [Babylonian Talmud: Kidushin 49b]"Perched on its eternal hills," wrote Mark Twain in Innocents Abroad (1867), "white and domed and solid, massed together and hooped with high gray walls, the venerable city gleamed in the sun." "So Small!" he remarked, ". . . why, it was no larger than an American village of four thousand inhabitants . . ." He mused further: "The thoughts Jerusalem suggests are full of poetry, sublimity and more than all, dignity." Having entered the gates and wandered through the streets, he observed, ". . . Jerusalem is mournful and dreary and lifeless. I would not desire to live here." But after visiting the Holy places, he left Jerusalem and concluded that ". . . all that will be left will be pleasant memories of Jerusalem . . . a memory which money could not buy from us."
As Mark Twain's sentiments indicate, Jerusalem has occupied a special place in the hearts and minds of many peoples through the ages. Without its strong religious associations, this small and remote city would have held little attraction for travelers, authors, or artists. Powerful spiritual yearnings served as a magnet for religious pilgrims who provided the earliest portrayals of the city. Religious inspiration, always a potent influence in art, probably accounts for the fact that Jerusalem has been portrayed more often than virtually any other city. Jerusalem's status as a paragon of beauty is celebrated in King Solomon's Song of Songs: "Thou art beautiful, O my love . . . comely as Jerusalem" [6:4].
Few artists undertook the long and hazardous journey to Jerusalem during the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. Most resorted instead to descriptions in Holy Scriptures, historical accounts, and travelers' narratives, supplemented by their own imaginations. The resulting portrayals were, with a few notable exceptions, mixtures of second hand observations and inspired fantasy.
The most popular view of Jerusalem is from the Mount of Olives, overlooking the city from the east and providing an unobstructed view of the Temple Mount and other holy sites. In his book Those Holy Fields, the Reverend Samuel Manning wrote: "This is the view over which Jesus wept, when he beheld its beauty."
 | 17.
GARO NALBANDIAN JERUSALEM Published by Palphot Ltd., late twentieth century Color photograph, 27.0 x 98.0 cm Kyram Collection |
The Mount of Olives is a natural observation point that has for centuries been favored by artists and pilgrims, and more recently by tourists and photographers. In this modern color photograph the appearance of the Temple Mount and the old walled city is not much different from that seen on old drawings and paintings (see object 18). The horizon, however, is altered considerably by tall buildings of the modern city.
 | 18. CORNELIS DE BRUYN Dutch, 1652-1726 IERUSALEM From: Reizen van . . . door Klein Asia . . . en Palestina Delft, 1698 Facsimile engraving, 28.2 x 125.3 cm Kyram Collection |
De Bruyn was one of the most accomplished artists to visit the Holy Land before the nineteenth century. He came as a traveling artist rather than a pilgrim and his depictions are historically valuable because of their accuracy. This view was sketched during the period of Ottoman rule when foreigners were regarded with suspicion and the making of "graven images" was prohibited. De Bruyn avoided detection by pretending to be picnicking with two Franciscan Fathers who stood guard while he made his drawings.
 | 19. PIERRE R. AVELINE French, 1654-1722 IERUSALEM Comme elle est a présent Paris, ca. 1700 Engraving, hand colored, 34.1 x 51.7 cm Kyram Collection |
Although it is from the same vantage point and was published at about the same time as de Bruyn's view (object 18), this engraving presents a significantly different image of Jerusalem. Whereas de Bruyn's is a first-hand eyewitness drawing, Aveline's is an imaginary image based on an earlier imaginary rendering, itself derived from a fifteenth-century pilgrim's sketch. Points of interest are numbered and identified in accordance with Christian tradition. Illustrations such as this, though outdated and inaccurate, conformed with descriptions of the city's beauty and fulfilled the needs of armchair pilgrims.
 | 20. DAVID ROBERTS Scottish, 1796-1864 JERUSALEM du cote du Nord From: The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt and Nubia F. Stroobant, Brussels, ca. 1845 Lithograph, 27.0 x 39.0 cm Kyram Collection |
Some of the most celebrated on-site drawings of the Holy Land were made by the Scottish artist David Roberts in 1838 and 1839. His view of Jerusalem from the north provides a majestic vista of the city with its domes and minarets, and the surrounding hills and valleys.
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