DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.801#0006
2
splendid proofs of his professional talents,
especially in a public building of Grecian
architecture at Chester. Mr. Harrison
had besides studied many years, and to
great purpose, at Rome. Lord Elgin
consulted him, therefore, on the benefits
that might possibly be derived to the arts
in this country, in case an opportunity
could be found for studying minutely the
architecture and sculpture of ancient
Greece; and his opinion very decidedly
was, that although we might possess exact
measurements of the buildings at Athens,
yet a young artist could never form to
himself an adequate conception: of their
minute details, combinations, and general
effect, without having before him some
such sensible representation of them, as
might be conveyed by casts. This advice,
which laid the groundwork of Lord El-
gin's pursuits in Greece, led to the further
consideration, that, since any knowledge
which was possessed of these buildings
splendid proofs of his professional talents,
especially in a public building of Grecian
architecture at Chester. Mr. Harrison
had besides studied many years, and to
great purpose, at Rome. Lord Elgin
consulted him, therefore, on the benefits
that might possibly be derived to the arts
in this country, in case an opportunity
could be found for studying minutely the
architecture and sculpture of ancient
Greece; and his opinion very decidedly
was, that although we might possess exact
measurements of the buildings at Athens,
yet a young artist could never form to
himself an adequate conception: of their
minute details, combinations, and general
effect, without having before him some
such sensible representation of them, as
might be conveyed by casts. This advice,
which laid the groundwork of Lord El-
gin's pursuits in Greece, led to the further
consideration, that, since any knowledge
which was possessed of these buildings