Armenian Church, Jerusalem

Following his traumatic war experiences in the First World War, Bomberg finally escaped poverty and neglect in England in 1923, after accepting a post with the Palestine Foundation Fund, who paid for his voyage in return for a number of works featuring Zionist reconstruction work. Although this post was short-lived, the experience was formative: Bomberg stayed on until 1927, engaging with the landscape and work en plein air for the first time. During Easter week 1925, however, after being smuggled into the Arab Christian Armenian Church of St James in Jerusalem, he made a rare series of studies of its peopled interior, observing the Easter ceremonies in progress. Related paintings from this series are in collections including A David Bomberg Legacy – The Sarah Rose Collection at London South Bank University, and Southampton City Art Gallery.