Page 40 - Beholding Liberty!
P. 40
40 BEHOLDING LIBERTY!
The phenomenon of Neoclassicism from
the mid-18th century onwards turns again the travellers’ interest to Greece of classical antiquity: antiquarian travellers study
by in situ inspection the original Greek monuments, while artists make drawings
of them, realistic or imaginary, and present them to the European public in paintings, engravings and illustrated editions.
Greek antiquities often lie in ruins, but
this does not bother at all the antiquarians; on the contrary, they are attracted
by ruins to such an extent that they excessively enrich with them Greek
themes, even those that do not have
ruins, resulting in ruin adoration.
Greece will be established in the visual civilization of the West as a place
of monumental grandeur, but in decline.
