DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4328#0012
INTRODUCTION
The plates now published in this volume for the first time were engraved between
1820 and 1840 from the drawings made by the members of the Second Ionian
Mission sent out by the Society of Dilettanti in 1811. These engravings were to
have been issued in a companion volume to Part III. of the Antiquities of Ionia
which was published in 1840. It was delayed, however, by the death in 1839 of
William Wilkins, R.A., who had been the architectural expert of the Society from the
time of the Mission, and was acting as editor of the work. While thus set aside
for a time, other links with the past were broken and new interests arose. Fellows
travelled over the same ground again in 1838, and in 1846 Penrose made his
proposals to the Society for his survey of the monuments of Athens which was con-
ducted by him according to fresh ideas of scientific accuracy. The engraved plates
were thus forgotten until a set of proofs of them were given by the Society in 1912
to the Royal Institute of British Architects, together with many of the original
drawings. It was then pointed out that these engravings had never been published,
and on an enquiry being made as to the existence of the plates they were found in
the custody of Messrs. Ross, the copper-plate printers.
Although during the continuous research of a century most of the monuments
represented in these engravings have now been otherwise published, it seems desirable
from many points of view to make the plates known. They form a further record
of a remarkable phase of English scholarship when we led the way in the search for
classical antiquities; they complete the important work which was carried on for so
long a time by the Society of Dilettanti; they represent the monuments as they
were a century since, some of them having been injured or destroyed in the
meantime; and the plates themselves are excellent examples of the fine work which
was being produced by our engravers in the now curiously remote period, the first
half of the nineteenth century.
The most important monument dealt with is the great Temple of Artemis at
Magnesia, one of the most famous examples of Hellenistic architecture, and a work
to which Vitruvius referred as being the very standard of his art. It has even been
forgotten that this temple, like so many of the ruins of Asia Minor, was first
excavated by an English party, and the delicate engravings of the very beautiful
capitals and bases of the Order will be found the most adequate presentments of
them which have been published. Most of the rest of the plates illustrate the
remarkable monuments of Myra and of other Lycian cities.
The Society of Dilettanti has from time to time presented the original works
of art which it had collected to the British Museum, together with most of
the drawings made for its various publications. The drawings given in 1912 to
the Royal Institute of British Architects were the whole of those remaining in the
XI
The plates now published in this volume for the first time were engraved between
1820 and 1840 from the drawings made by the members of the Second Ionian
Mission sent out by the Society of Dilettanti in 1811. These engravings were to
have been issued in a companion volume to Part III. of the Antiquities of Ionia
which was published in 1840. It was delayed, however, by the death in 1839 of
William Wilkins, R.A., who had been the architectural expert of the Society from the
time of the Mission, and was acting as editor of the work. While thus set aside
for a time, other links with the past were broken and new interests arose. Fellows
travelled over the same ground again in 1838, and in 1846 Penrose made his
proposals to the Society for his survey of the monuments of Athens which was con-
ducted by him according to fresh ideas of scientific accuracy. The engraved plates
were thus forgotten until a set of proofs of them were given by the Society in 1912
to the Royal Institute of British Architects, together with many of the original
drawings. It was then pointed out that these engravings had never been published,
and on an enquiry being made as to the existence of the plates they were found in
the custody of Messrs. Ross, the copper-plate printers.
Although during the continuous research of a century most of the monuments
represented in these engravings have now been otherwise published, it seems desirable
from many points of view to make the plates known. They form a further record
of a remarkable phase of English scholarship when we led the way in the search for
classical antiquities; they complete the important work which was carried on for so
long a time by the Society of Dilettanti; they represent the monuments as they
were a century since, some of them having been injured or destroyed in the
meantime; and the plates themselves are excellent examples of the fine work which
was being produced by our engravers in the now curiously remote period, the first
half of the nineteenth century.
The most important monument dealt with is the great Temple of Artemis at
Magnesia, one of the most famous examples of Hellenistic architecture, and a work
to which Vitruvius referred as being the very standard of his art. It has even been
forgotten that this temple, like so many of the ruins of Asia Minor, was first
excavated by an English party, and the delicate engravings of the very beautiful
capitals and bases of the Order will be found the most adequate presentments of
them which have been published. Most of the rest of the plates illustrate the
remarkable monuments of Myra and of other Lycian cities.
The Society of Dilettanti has from time to time presented the original works
of art which it had collected to the British Museum, together with most of
the drawings made for its various publications. The drawings given in 1912 to
the Royal Institute of British Architects were the whole of those remaining in the
XI