Page 60 - Beholding Liberty!

60 BEHOLDING LIBERTY!
I.1.14
Louis-François Cassas (1756-1827) General view of the city of Athens, 1784-1813
handcoloured engraving, 69 x 145.5 cm
inscribed (caption): Vue Générale de la Ville d’Athênes Prise du chemin de Marathon / l’on voit le Mont Hymette la Mer Egée et une partie des Côtes du Péloponèse (low centre)
Hellenic Parliament Art Collection, inv. n. 852
FRENCH LOUIS-FRANÇOIS CASSAS, a multifarious personality (a designer, painter, engraver and sculptor), was an avid traveller and antiquarian. Between 1778-83 he travelled exten- sively in Italy and made drawings of antiquities, which were praised by Johann Wolfgang Goethe; in 1782 he toured the Dalmatian coast and pub- lished the album Voyage pittoresque et historique de l’Istrie et de la Dalmatie (1802).
Because of his background, he was chosen by Comte de Choiseul-Gouffier, also a traveller and an antiquarian, to accompany him to Constantinople, where he was appointed ambassador (1784-92). On behalf of the latter, Cassas acted (1785-91) as the curator of his antiquities collection; based in Constantinople, he embarked on solo journeys to the broader eastern Mediterranean and Near East until 1787. Between 1787-91 he was in Italy and returned to Paris in 1792. He collaborated on the illustrations for the second (1809) and third (1822) volumes of Choiseul-Gouffier’s Voyage pit- toresque de la Grèce; Cassas himself published the lavishly illustrated third volume Voyage pittoresque de la Syrie, de la Phoenicie, de la Palestine, et la Basse Egypte (1799).
Cassas’s journey from Paris, together with the Comte de Choiseul-Gouffier and his entourage, began in June 1784; on August 9 they were in Mal- ta and by September 23 they had already arrived in Constantinople. We do not know exactly when they arrived in Athens – probably in late August or early September 1784. We do know, however, from a letter from Cassas, that they stayed in the Attic capital for only two days.
In this short period of time, the ambassador and the artist had the opportunity to tour the glorious monuments of the city.
Cassas produced a series of views of the city and its antiquities, among which the impressive panorama of Athens stands out. According to the inscription at the bottom, this is a view from the northeast, coming from Marathon to Athens. It is probably the travellers’ first impression of Athens, assuming they had set anchor in the east of Atti- ca, perhaps at Porto Rafti.
This particular impression must clearly have been drawn by Cassas on the spot, but would certainly have been reworked later. Cassas’s drawing was engraved around 1800-02 by the workshop of Francesco and Giovanni Piranesi – descendants of the celebrated printmaker Giambattista Piranesi – and published in 1813 by J.M.S. Bence in Grandes vues pittoresques des principaux sites et monuments de la Grèce et la Sicile et des sept Collines de Rome, a series of engravings with views of Constanti- nople, Cairo, Alexandria, Athens, Nafpaktos and Thebes. This engraving has been hand-coloured using watercolours; copies in black and white sur- vive; also in monochrome, imitating the look of ink painting. Also extant (Paris, Bibliothèque Na- tionale, Musée de l’Opéra) is a study of the same subject – a pencil drawing on paper, painted in watercolour and gouache.
This panoramic view of Athens captures the en- tire city, spread around the Acropolis that domi- nates the centre; the entire built-up area is ideally framed by mountainous masses. The lush vegeta- tion in the foreground and the calm clouds in the background enhance the serenity of the setting and gentleness of mood. In the foreground, two equestrian figures in European-style clothing and hats stand out among the human figures. The hat- ted one, on the right, which dominates the scene, his horse rearing on two legs, should be identified