Paul Sandby, William Pars and the Society of Dilettanti

• Autores: Ann V. Gunn
• Localización: Burlington magazine, ISSN 0007-6287, Vol. 152, Nº 1285, 2010, págs. 219-227
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • The writer discusses a series of 12 views made by artist Paul Sandby after watercolors painted by William Pars during an archaeological expedition to Greece and Asia Minor (1764–66) organized by the British institution the Society of Dilettanti. The importance and influence of this expedition, for which Pars was the official draftsman, have been unquestioningly accepted in the literature on antiquarianism and late 18th-century Greek Revival architecture. However, few of the Dilettanti and none of the public would have had access to most of the views and measured drawings that resulted until more than 30 years later, had it not been, among other things, for the entrepreneurial spirit and printmaking skills of Sandby. The writer discusses the story of the making of the 12 prints, noting how this also sheds light on the relationships and networks among a group of artists and aristocrats in which patronage and friendship were entwined.