Page 100 - Beholding Liberty!
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100 BEHOLDING LIBERTY!
I.2.28
Edward Dodwell (1767-1832)
The temple of Aphaia on Aegina Island, 1819
coloured aquatint, 24.5 x 39.5 cm
Hellenic Parliament Art Collection, inv. n. 490
THE IRISH PAINTER and antiquarian Edward Dodwell, during his many travels in Greece (1801, 1805, 1806), accounts of which he published in the two-volume A Classical and Topographical Tour through Greece (1819) [cat. no Ι.1.10], depicted the Greek world, its monuments and inhabitants in scores of watercolours, which he later lithographed in colour (aquatints). Printed by the London litho- graphic press of Charles Joseph Hullmandel (1789- 1850), they were published as loose engravings from 1819 onwards. A selection of 30 views were assembled in an exquisitely designed album, Views
in Greece, from Drawings (London, Rodwell and Mar- tin, 1821) – a first-class example of an artist’s gaze in travel literature about Greece. Dodwell’s views are dominated by an antiquarian approach, focusing on ancient remains.
The view from the temple of Aphaea in Aegina, published on June 1, 1819, shows the interior of the temple, with the ancient columns, some still stand- ing and others in pieces, covered by lush vegeta- tion; the picturesque figure of the lyra-player in the foreground, on the left, is consistent with the idyllic setting.
