Page 33 - Beholding Liberty!

focuses on modern Greek life and culture, always of course in comparison with the ancient. Also, Count Choiseul-Gouffier, who was interested primarily in enriching his collection of antiquities, but also in multiple voyages to Greece, turned his glance to the contemporary Greeks, even as sup- plementary figures indicating the size of the monuments. Antiquities are the main theme of his “Picturesque voyage to Greece” [cat. no 1.1.2.], but the humble modern Greeks also found a place beside the remains of their ancestors. Choiseul-Gouffier would also capture visually the archetypal image of subjugated Greece, alongside the glorious monuments, where she is waiting someone to assist her in breaking her chains. The allegorical figure of Greece in chains would become a favored motif of pre-revolutionary iconography, in various versions,16 among which is Korais’ Salpisma Po- lemistirion [A Trumpet Call to War] (1801) [cf. cat. no Prelude 4].
At the center of antiquity-lovers’ interest was certainly always Athens, timeless “mother of the arts and philosophy”.17 Athens was also (even occasionally) the destination of Choiseul Gouffier, when in 1784 he travelled to Constantinople to assume his duties as ambassador. He admired the Athenian antiquities and assigned Louis Francois Cassas,18 the accompanying artist, to re- cord them. Cassas in turn lived “a dream among superb ruins”19 and gave us the most detailed view of pre-revolutionary Athens20 [cat. no 1.1.14], a rare visual record, as well as various views with antiquities. The human figures were reduced to nothing by the grandeur of the ancient works, even though they were in a state of dereliction, such as in the case of Hadrian’s aqueduct on Lycabettus hill [cat. no 1.1.15]. But even in this way, their contemporary Athenians entered into the frame of history.
Antiquity worship by the representatives of the Enlightenment and bearers of the aesthetic of Neoclassicism was so strong, that they reached the point of dreaming Antiquity, bringing it to an iconic environment, with the iconographic means of the period.
Thus Cassas also depicted images of Athens as fictitious. For example, in the “Capriccio of ancient Athens”21 he composed an imaginary image of the city with the existing ancient monuments – such as the Acropolis in the background, the monument of Lysicrates and the Tower of the Winds on
16. Athanassoglou-Kallmyer 1989, 97, Koutsogiannis 2012, Koutsogiannis 2014, 88, cat. no 18, Koutsogiannis 2017, 22-26, Kokkonas 2018, 95-96, Koutsogiannis 2019, 168, Lagogianni-Georgakarakos – Koutsogiannis 2019, 368-370,
cat. n0 2-3.
17. Koutsogiannis 2015, 60 ff.
18. Gilet 1994.
19. Lagogianni-Georgakarakos – Koutsogiannis 2015.
20. Koutsogiannis 2014, 112-116 cat. no 38, Koutsogiannis 2015, 108-112.
21. Koutsogiannis2014,112-116 cat. no 40, Koutgsogiannis 2015, 112, 116.
Louis-François Cassas
(1756-1827)
Imaginary reconstruction of ancient Athens watercolour, 47 x 61.5 cm Hellenic Parliament Art Collection
Antiquity worship as early Philhellenism 33