print;
book;
book-illustration
- Museum number
- Hh,13.2.62
- Description
-
Illustration to Stuart and Revett's "The Antiquities of Athens" volume II (London, 1788); chapter 3; plate I: View of the Theatre of Bacchus, taken from a grotto in the upper part of the theatre and showing the remains of curved seating on the right, with the gulph of Athens and mountainson the horizon and the monument of Philopappus on a hill in the distance on the right; two men leading frisky horses in front of the theatre arches and Revett sitting in the shade of the grotto in the right foreground, wearing Turkish dress, drawing the masonry.
Etching and engraving
- Production date
- 1787
- Dimensions
-
Height: 338 millimetres
-
Width: 455 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- Stuart states that he has given four plates for this chapter, but when the volume was prepared for publication after Stuart's death, only two of these were found and no drawings for any others. Woods supplied three plates for the Theatre of Bacchus in Vol. IV, ch. 5.
See Hh,13.2.2 for more information on the contents and publication of this volume; see Hh,13.4.8 for general information on the Antiquities.
Stuart mentions in his introduction that his party had difficulty examining the ruins because the Turks were using the front of the Scene as an outwork for a fortress and were very suspicious of the visitors' curiousity. This was a great disappointment to Stuart, particularly because he thought that as much of the masonry would have fallen downhill, they would have found that 'some architectural ornaments, some fragments of sculpture, or some unpublished inscriptions, were buried there'. However, they took general dimensions and dug around the back of the theatre revealing the staircases, postscenium and other things which 'had escaped the notice of others'. After discussing a possible date for the theatre, he adds that even if they had been able to discover more, they would still lack too many details to build up a true picture of a Vitruvian theatre. He remarks that the drawings of Serlio and Desgodetz of other ruins show that the front of the scene was decorated with columns, etc. as Vitruvius says: however he cannot see how this could have suited the 'imaginary business of the drama', for it seemed to have been a distinct element and 'should we allow it to have represented a palace, as the Marches Galiani has suggested, it must have appeared an insufferable absurdity had Prometheus chained to ar rock ... bewailed [his] distresses, in the midst of a magnificence totally repugnant to the situation in which the poet has placed them'. He therefore concludes that the 'stately front' must have been concealed during the performances.
- Location
- Not on display
- Associated titles
Associated Title: The Antiquities of Athens
- Acquisition date
- 1799
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- Hh,13.2.62