Page 61 - Beholding Liberty!
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PERISTYLE
with the Comte de Choiseul-Gouffier, addressing the younger man on the left, the artist, Cassas, himself, with a gesture of presentation; the latter returns the salute with his hat. The city of Ath- ens is depicted in stunning detail, which might suggest the use of camera obscura. Not only are the massive monuments, such as those on the Acropolis, the Thiseion on the right, the Temple of Olympian Zeus on the left, the recently built (1778) wall of Hadji Ali Haseki, but also every sin-
gle humble house in the small city, are accurately illustrated.
It is of course the historical grandeur of Athens and its noble genius loci to which we owe both the fact that the artists felt the need to visit the city and to produce this magnificent image – a pan- orama of Athens unique in scope and accuracy, a rare documentary record of the city’s pre-revolu- tion state.
THE AWAKENING OF HELLENISM From Archaeoloatry to Philhellenism 61
