Entrance to the crypt, Roslin Chapel

David Roberts painted this view of the entrance to the crypt at Roslin Chapel in 1843, documenting one of Scotland's most famous medieval buildings. The fifteenth-century Rosslyn Chapel, with its extraordinary carved interior, had fascinated artists and writers since the Romantic era. Roberts, who began his career as a scene painter in Edinburgh, had a particular affinity for Gothic architecture and rendered it with the precision of an architectural draftsman.

Roberts renders the Gothic architectural details with the precision and atmospheric sensitivity that distinguished his architectural paintings. The play of light through the crypt entrance and the careful rendering of carved stonework demonstrate his mastery of architectural subjects in both oil and watercolor.