The British architect and painter James Stuart (1713-1788), son of a Scottish sailor, started painting from a very early age. While still an adolescent, he was awarded a scholarship to attend the Society of Arts, where he cultivated his talent in drawing and geometry. In 1741, his siblings aided him to travel to Rome, as he had fervently desired. Stuart walked most of the journey, earning money from odd jobs on the way. In Rome, Stuart made friends with painter Gavin Hamilton and architects Matthew Brettingham and Nicholas Revett.

The British architect and designer Nicholas Revett (1720-1804) met Stuart, Hamilton and Brettingham in 1842, while he was in Rome studying painting with Cavaliere Benefiale. In April 1748, the four artists made an excursion on foot to Naples and toured the antiquities. At that time, in their treatise "Proposals for Publishing an Accurate Description of the Antiquities of Athens", Stuart and Revett first formulated the idea that would lead to their project in Greece. The idea gained the fervent support of the Society of Dilettanti in Rome, which financed the mission. Stuart and Revett arrived in Greece in the spring of 1751. They stayed there for about two and a half years, facing a multitude of adversities in their work, and returned to England in 1755.

The two worked mainly in Athens and Attica, but also visited Corinth, Thessaloniki and Delphi. Revett measured the monuments and Stuart made the drawings. All the work was completed "in situ". Determined to delineate everything as accurately as possible, they excavated almost to the foundations. As they note in the introduction to the publication, no element was added to picturesque effect and even the human figures were depicted from nature.

The first volume of "The Antiquities of Athens Measured and Delineated by James Stuart F.R.S. and F.S.A. and Nicholas Revett Painters and Architects", was published in 1762, receiving a warm welcome from the British public. The work was a landmark in European classicism. Stuart became famous, was surnamed “Athenian” and elected a member of the Royal Society. Revett, on the other hand, remained relatively obscure, as he ended his collaboration with Stuart and sold him his rights to the work. Stuart turned to architecture and designed the first Neoclassical buildings in England. He died suddenly in 1788, while preparing for publication the second volume of the work. Revett continued to participate in archaeological expeditions, always as a member of the Society of Dilettanti, and also built Neoclassical houses. He died aged 84. The four-volume edition of the "The Antiquities of Athens" was completed posthumously by other prominent members of the Society of Dilettanti in 1816. More than three hundred drawings, with depictions and delineations (measured drawings) plans, sections and details of ancient monuments and architectural members, in exquisite copper-plate engravings, accompanied by explanatory texts on the use of the monument, archaeological comments and travel impressions, inaugurated a new era, in which meticulous measurement replaced the generic and often imaginary representation of ancient monuments. This edition is the French translation of the first volume of the work, and the engravings are smaller than in the original edition.

The Society of Dilettanti, one of the many clubs of the British aristocracy, was founded in 1734 in order to facilitate closer contact between its members, who had a special inclination for the arts. As they state in the introduction to one of their publications, the future members of the Society, particularly after their grand tour in Italy, wanted to have a taste of these objects in their home countries, that is, to have the opportunity to study ancient Greek and Roman art. Gradually, the Society of Dilettanti promoted, inspired and organized the most important archaeological missions to Greek lands up until 1846. It published the findings of these and of other expeditions in monumental tomes. It also contributed to the establishment of European classicism in the eighteenth century, and helped the European public acquire a comprehensive idea of ancient Greek architecture. However, the work of the Society, while vital to the progress of the discipline of Archaeology, did not always contribute to the preservation of the antiquities themselves. In an era when antiquarianism was tantamount to antiquities’ theft, participants in the missions engaged in pillaging ancient remains, with catastrophic consequences for the monuments.

Written by Ioli Vingopoulou

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  Title page.

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  General view of Athens, charting the main sights and monuments. Salamis, Aegina and the coast of the Peloponnese in the background.

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  Vignettes of chapters 1, 2 and 5 of Les antiquités d'Athènes by Jame Stuart and Nicholas Revett: ancient coins, inscriptions and architectural features.

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  The Gate of Athena Archegetis in Athens.

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  Plan of the Gate of Athena Archegetis.

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  Elevation of the façade and side of the Gate of Athena Archegetis in Athens.

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  Drawings of the architrave and column capital of the Gate of Athena Archegetis. Bottom plan of the entablature.

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  Gate of Athena Archegetis: 1. Capital of the antae, with a section of the entablature. 2. Section of the capital of the antae. 3. Section of the cornice.

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  Plan of the Temple of Artemis Agrotera on the southern bank of Ilissus river.

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  The Temple of Artemis Agrotera at Ilissus river.

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  Elevation of the front of the Temple of Artemis Agrotera at Ilissus river.

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  1. Elevation of the southern side of the Temple of Artemis Agrotera on Ilissus river. 2. Longitudinal section of the temple.

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  1. Base and capital of the columns, entablature of the Temple of Artemis Agrotera at Ilissus river. At the time of Stuart and Revett's investigation, the frieze of the temple had already been destroyed and the relief depicted is a fragment of a relief discovered elsewhere in Athens, whose dimensions fit those of the missing part. 2. Elevation of quarter of a column. 3. Drawing of the flutings of the column.

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  Plan, profile and section of angular capital belonging to the Temple of Artemis Agrotera.

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  Temple of Artemis Agrotera: Capital and base of one of the antae, with the different architraves which were employed in the building. Fig. 1. The architrave within the portico. Fig. 2. The architrave to the pronaos. Fig. 3. Cymatium on the upper fascia of the architrave of the pronaos. Fig. 4. The architrave to the opisthodomos.

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  The Horologion of Andronikos Kyrristos (Tower of the Winds) in Athens. The Acropolis in the background. The person standing at the entrance of the monument with his back turned is Seikh Mustafa, chief of the order of Whirling Dervishes, who used the monument as their tekije (dervish lodge). The image also depicts an woman from affluent family promenading with her daughters and maidservant.

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  Plan of the Horologion of Andronikos Kyrristos (Tower of the Winds).

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  Elevation and section of the Horologion of Andronikos Kyrristos (Tower of the Winds).

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  Fig. 1. The external mouldings of the Tower of the Winds. Fig. 2. A section of the uppermost of the three steps which form the basis or stereobata on which the building stands.Fig.3. A quarter of the roof of the Tower of the Winds. Fig. 4. A section of half the aforesaid roof. Fig. 5. The fragment of a capital marked B in the preceeding figure, and which in Plate III of this chapter is, with some restorations made to support the conical Marble and the Triton.

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  Horologion of Andronikos Kyrristos (Tower of the Winds), Athens:

  Fig 1. The capital and entablature of the portico before the door. Fig. 2. A fragment of the Dentells belonging to the cornice of the entablature. Fig. 3. The profile of the cornice belonging to the circular projection under the figure of ΝΟΤΟΣ.

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  Horologion of Andronikos Kyrristos (Tower of the Winds) in Athens: The capital of one of the antae, with traces of the entablature and the entrance frame. (Drawing based on a small remaining fragment of the capital).

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  The internal mouldings of the Tower of the Winds: Fig. 1. The lower cornice. Fig. 2. The second cornice, enriched with dentels and modilions. Fig. 3. The soffit of the second cornice. Fig. 4. The circular fascia with the inferior part of one of the columns which it supports, likewise the capital and the entablature of those columns. Fig. 5. Explains the manner in which the cabled part of the flutings on those columns are terminated.

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  Three of the eight dials on the Tower of the Winds. Under the word ΝΟΤΟΣ is that on the south side; under ΕΥΡΟΣ is that on the south-east side; and under ΑΠΗΛΙΩΤΗΣ, that on the east side of the Tower.

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  Tower of the Winds (Horologion of Andronikos Kyrristos) in Athens: Two more of the eight dials. Under the word ΚΑΙΚΙΑΣ, is that on the north-east side; and under the word ΒΟΡΕΑΣ, that on the north side of the tower.

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  Reliefs of the eight winds from the Horologion of Andronikos Kyrristos (Tower of the Winds): 1. ΒΟΡΕΑΣ, Boreas, north wind. 2. ΚΑΙΚΙAΣ, Kaikias, north-east wind 3. ΑΠΗΛΙΩΤΗΣ, Apeliotes, east wind. 4. ΕΥΡΩΣ, Euros, south-east wind 5. ΝΟΤΟΣ, Notos, sοuth wind. 6. ΛΙΨ, Lips, south-west wind. 7. ΖΕΦΥΡΟΣ, Zephyros, west wind. 8. ΣΚΙΡΩΝ, Skiron, north-west wind.

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  Vignettes of chapters IV and V: Ancient coins, inscriptions and reconstructive drawing of the top of the Choregic Monument of Lysicrates in Athens.

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  The Choregic Monument of Lysicrates seen from the court of the hospice of the Capuchin monastery, where it was situated. A Capuchin monk living at the monastery.

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  Plan of the Choregic Monument of Lysicrates in Athens. The preserved part of the monument is shaded in the drawing.

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  Elevation and section of the Choregic Monument of Lysicrates in Athens.

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  Choregic monument of Lysicrates in Athens: The base of the column with the circular zoccolos or steps which are immediately above the quadrangular basement.

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  Choregic monument of Lysicrates in Athens: The external face of the capital, with the entablature, and half one of the tripods.

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  Choregic monument of Lysicrates in Athens: The plan reversed, and the sections of the capital, with the elevation of half the unfinished part of the capital.

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  Choregic monument of Lysicrates in Athens: Fig. 1. A quarter of the upper surface of the Tholus or Cupola. Fig. 2. A section of the cupola made on the line CD of the foregoing figure. Fig. 3. A section of part of the cupola on the line EF. Fig. 4. A section of the helix or scrol marked A in Fig. 1, and 2. Fig. 5. represents the remains of the vitruvian scrols.

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  Choregic monument of Lysicrates in Athens: Fig. 1. The flower on the top of the tholus or cupola. Fig. 2. The plan of the upper surface of the flower. Fig. 3. A perpendicular section of the top of the flower, made through the line A, B, C of the preceding figure.

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  Relifs from the Choregic Monument of Lycirates in Athens: The story of Dionysus and the Tyrrhenian pirates.

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  Hadrian's Library, seen from the house of Nikolaos Logothetis, consul of Britain in Athens. In the foreground, the soap mills, an Ottoman aga receiving a visitor and an Albanian groom.

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  Plan of Hadrian's Library, Athens. The remaning part is shaded in the drawing.

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  Hadrian's Library in Athens: 1. The elevation of the portal of Hadrian's Library and the facade to the north of the portal. 2. A section of the front wall with a profile of the portal and the southern pteroma, with one of the columns between the portal and the northern pteroma. 3. Hadrian's Library in Athens: The section of the portal and of the gate-way of entrance before which it is placed. 4. Part of the external face of the lateral wall or flank of this building.

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  Hadrian's Library in Athens: 1. The base of one of the four fluted columns of the portal. Fig. 2. The cornice of the lateral walls and of the exhedrae. Fig. 3. The architrave of the gate-way or entrance before which the portal in the middle of the front is placed. Fig.4. A section of the aforesaid architrave.

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  Hadrian's Library in Athens: 1. The capital and entablature of the columns on the front of the building. 2. Section of the capital. 3. Bottom plan of mouldings. 4. Architrave of the interior of the portal and moulding of the abacus of the capital, continued underneath the architrave.

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  Hadrian's Library in Athens: Fig. 1. The plan of the capital. Fig. 2. The angular view of the capital.

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  Hadrian's Library in Athens: Plan and elevation of the ruins on which part of the church of Megali Panagia was built. 1. Elevation of ancient arcade 2. Plan showing the ruins of ancient structures within the church. 3. Mouldings and impost of the ancient arcade within the church. 4. Section of the architrave supported by the columns and pilaster adjacent to the church. 4. Capital of the pilaster.