About the Work
In March and April 1876, Friedrich Metz undertook a journey from Egypt to what is now Israel, Syria and Lebanon. He took with him at least two sketchbooks, now in the Städel Museum (see also Inv. SG 2764); in both of which Metz captured similar, sometimes even identical motifs from the same places, sometimes even from the same days, without any recognisable content structure. He thus drew in the randomly selected book and – as the changing dates reveal – on randomly opened pages.
From the drawings as well as the places and dates of creation regularly noted in both books, it can be reconstructed that Metz was in Cairo in mid-March 1876. He left Egypt a few days later via the port city of Port Said and reached Jaffa, that is now a part of Tel Aviv-Jaffa, by sea. Afterwards, he stayed in Ramla, Jerusalem and Jericho, in the Kidron valley, the Judean desert and at the Dead Sea, then travelled across the Jordan plain, Nablus and Nazareth to the Sea of Galilee, later to Hermon. Finally, in April, Metz drew in Damascus, then visited Baalbek, the Lebanon Mountains and Beirut. In May 1876, he interrupted his homeward journey, which he probably started from Beirut, for a stay of several weeks in Italy (see Inv. SG 2824, Städel Museum).
Almost all of the pencil drawings in both portrait-format books are in landscape format and show views of towns and cities from a distance as well as wide views of river, mountain and coastal landscapes. Metz gave a rough outline of what he saw ‒ sometimes more detailed but always with brisk strokes ‒, thus documenting the places he visited, especially the biblical ones in the Holy Land, in drawn “travel snapshots”.
For a full sketchbook description, please see “Research”.
