print;
book;
book-illustration
- Museum number
- Hh,13.4.9
- Title
- Object: Internal View of the Amphitheatre at Pola
- Description
-
Illustration to Stuart and Revett's "The Antiquities of Athens" volume IV (London, 1816) chapter 1, plate II; the ruins of an amphitheatre with three levels, forming a semicircle, through which part of the town and fortress can be seen on the left and the harbour on the right; in the foreground a group of shepherds are kneeling in prayer while a friar sprinkles holy water on their sheep, who run off, startled, and set the dogs barking at the friar.
Etching
- Production date
- 1816
- Dimensions
-
Height: 321 millimetres
-
Width: 492 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- See also Hh,13.4.8 for more information on the contents and publication of this volume and general information on the Antiquities.
Stuart describes how he had almost completed painting this view and was trying to think of a suitable scene with which to people it, when the shepherds, who feared for their livelihood because a blight had struck the sheep in the area and an edict had been passed to prohibit the eating of mutton, drove the remnants of their flocks into the amphitheatre, with the friar who was to bless them: 'The simplicity and devotion of the poor shepherds; the scampering of the sheep; the barking of the dogs, and the solemn deportment of the friar' supplied the artists' need. He adds: 'On the ground lie a musket, hatchets, and daggers, weapons without which the Sclavonians are never seen abroad'.
- Location
- Not on display
- Associated titles
Associated Title: The Antiquities of Athens
- Acquisition date
- 1799
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- Hh,13.4.9
