This book analyses the rich and remarkable collection of archaeological drawings, now housed in The British Museum, drawn in Greece by a team of architects and artists in the service of Lord Elgin during his ambassadorial expedition to the Levant (1799–1803). Luciana Gallo offers a new interpretation of Elgin’s interest in antiquities and reveals the aims, innovative approach, and significant achievements of this specialised tour. She also reveals his contribution to the advancement of contemporary archaeological studies carried out by British and continental scholars, in connection to the search for original sources to promote Greek Revival architecture. This is the first time that the bulk of the Elgin Drawings collection in the British Museum has been published. The volume will thus serve as an indispensable guide to scholars and students of ancient Greek architecture and sculpture, as well as of nineteenth-century architectural revivalism.
Contents
1. Early expeditions to Greece; 2. Lord Elgin's eastern expedition; 3. History of the Elgin drawings; 4. Critical analysis of the Elgin drawings; 5. Conclusions.
Review
"And what can one say in final praise of this publication? Perhaps that if the Elgin drawings were given a first life by being included in some of the publications of the first half of the nineteenth century, so now, more than a hundred years later, they have been endowed with a second life for historians and archaeologists and architects alike, presented here as they are so generously and so carefully. " --BCMR
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