Julien-David Le Roy (cir.1724/1728-1803) was a French architect, son of a watchmaker. He was already an accomplished architect, who had received awards for his work, when he settled in Rome in order to design Farnese Palace. Le Roy intended to take part in archaeological expeditions but, upon hearing that J. Stuart and N. Revett were at the task of delineating the monuments of Athens, he felt inclined to become the first to realize this project.

Thus, Le Roy sailed to Istanbul on a French war ship in May 1754 . Crossing the Aegean, he reached Athens by way of Smyrna and Delos in February 1755. He stayed in the city for a few months. With the aid of Capucine monks residing there and Pausanias’ text, he was able to identify the monuments, take measurements and draw. He then pursued his investigation in Piraeus, Sounion, Corinth, Thorikos and Sparta.

Le Roy returned to France in July 1755. Always eager to anticipate the publication of his English competitors’s work, he published this impressive edition in 1758, aided by the Count of Caylus. The English (1759) and the German (1764) translations were hurriedly released soon afterwards, both quite unpolished. In the same year, Le Roy was elected a member of the Royal Academy of Architecture. In 1762, he was appointed official historian to the Academy, in which he taught for forty years. Besides other works, he wrote a treatise on the evolution of Christian temples from Constantine the Great to the contemporary era. Inventive and imaginative, after completing his essay on ancient ships in 1787, Le Roy constructed a trirreme without much success.

Even though the monuments were drawn and measured in situ, Le Roy fails to render them with equal precision to Stuart and Revett, who did not hesitate to criticize him harshly. According to the aesthetics of the time, Le Roy consciously takes licence with representation, believing that the subject is superior to the image and emotion more important than exact depiction. He classifies Athenian monuments into two periods, those constructed before Pericles’s time and those built after the Golden Age of Athens.

After this second edition of 1770 was released, Le Roy was compelled to face the incisive but well-grounded ctiticism of Stuart and Revett. Nevertheless, Le Roy’s work greatly influenced the art and architecture of his time, and received a very warm welcome. From then onwards, all artistic and architectural creations were marked by the aspiration to return to the perfection of ancient Greek art.

Thus, the imaginary realm that constitutes the European vision of Greece in the 18th century, finds its graphic expression, as far as travel literature is concerned, in the sixty drawings realized by the eminent French architect, Stuart and Revett’s competitor. This work was released at the time when prominent scholar J.J. Winckelmann spoke of the supreme humanism of the Greek and the aesthetic ideal expressed in ancient Greek art, the same time when the European public had started to idealize antiquity.

Written by Ioli Vingopoulou

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  1. - 7. Fragments from columns from Delos: Bottom view, elevation, plan and section plan of columns. Elevation of Corinthian capital. 8. Bottom view of Corinthian capital from Rome. 9. - 10. Elevations of Corinthian capitals from Rome.

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  Title page.

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  Southeast view of the Parthenon.

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  Northwest view of Erechtheion.

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  View of the Propylaea of the Acropolis of Athens.

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  View of the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, Athens.

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  View of the Temple of Hephaestus (Thiseion), Athens.

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  View of the Choregic monument of Lysicrates, Athens

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  View of the Temple of Poseidon, Sounio.

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  View of the ports of Piraeus, Munichia (today Mikrolimano) and Faliro.

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  Imaginary representation of Faliro.

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  Plan of Doric temple. Elevation of the peristyle. View and section plan of the capital. Elevation of the front.

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  View of Doric columns. Plan and bottom plan of Doric columns. View of the capital of the column.

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  Plan of the Temple of Hephaestus (Thiseion) in Athens. East view of the temple.

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  Temple of Hephaestus (Theseion), Athens: Bottom view of the peristyle and pronaos, together with details of the ceiling.

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  Temple of Hephaestus (Theseion), Athens: 1. Elevation of the east side of the temple. On the metopes the Twelve Labours of Heracles. 2. Section plan of the metopes and the friezes of the temple. 3. The east (the battle of Theseus and the Pallantides) and west frieze (Centauromachy) of the temple.

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  The Parthenon: 1. Plan of the temple. 2. West side of the temple. On the pediment the battle of Athena with Poseidon. On the metopes the Centauromachy. In fact, the Centauromachy is on the south side of the temple and not in the west, as the author suggests.

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  The Parthenon: 1. Part of the east side of the temple. 2. Longitudinal section of part of the pronaos.

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  Part of the south side of the Parthenon. On the metopes scenes from Centauromachy. Interestingly, the author adds to this side a pediment as well.

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  Architectural features from the Parthenon.

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  Plan of the Propylaea of the Acropolis of Athens.

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  Longitudinal section of the Propylaea of the Acropolis of Athens (from east to west). Imaginary reconstruction of the Monument of Agrippa.

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  Reconstruction of the Propylaea of the Acropolis of Athens.

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  Plan of Erechtheion. View of the east side of the Temple.

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  West view of Erechtheion.

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  Erechtheion: 1. View and details of the window. 2. View of the entablature of the west side. 3. Column of the antae. 4. Geison.

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  The Caryatides, Erechtheion: 1. South view. 2. Entablature at the corner. 3. Crepidoma and base of the column. 4. Bottom view of the ceiling.

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  Choregic monument of Lysicrates: 1. Plan of the base. 2. Plan of the ceiling.

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  View of the Choregic monument of Lysicrates.

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  Section plan of the Choregic monument of Lysicrates.

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  Title page.

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  Map of Athens and its environs.

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  The Choregic monument of Thrasyllus (Panagia Spiliotissa), Athens.

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  The Horologion of Andronikos Kyrristos (Tower of the Winds), Athens.

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  The Gate of Athena Archegetis (mod. Pazaroporta), Athens.

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  The Monument of Philopappus, Athens

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  The ruins of Hadrian's Library, Athens.

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  The Arch of Hadrian, Athens. In the background the Temple of Olympia Zeus.

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  The Temple of Olympian Zeus, Athens.

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  Bridge over Ilissus river, Athens. In the background the site of the Panathenaic Stadium.

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  The Aqueduct of Hadrian (Dexameni), Athens.

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  Imaginary representation of the Temple of Apollo at ancient Corinth.

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  Map of Sparta and the vale of Eurotas.

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  The remains of the Roman theater at Sparta.

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  Landscape at Sparta.

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  Comparison of the length of ancient stadiums, based upon various measuring methods.

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  Temple of Apollo at ancient Corinth: Plan of the temple (disoriented drawing), the colonnade of the opisthodomos, and view of the capital of the column.

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  Gate of Athena Archegetis (mod. Pazaroporta), Athens: Elevation of the monument. Elevation of the capitals and the entablature.

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  Plans of the Temple of Rome and Augustus in Pula, Croatia. Elevation of the front.

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  Temple of Rome and Augustus in Pula, Croatia: 1. Longitudinal elevation. 2. Crypidoma, stylobate and base of the column. 3. Elevation of capital and entablature. 4. Bottom view of column and details of the ceiling.

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  1. - 4. Hadrian's Library, Athens: plan of the west side of the monument. Elevation of the west side. Elevation of entablature. Bottom view and details of the ceiling. 5. Plan of the site of the Temple of Olympian Zeus, Athens.

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  Plan of the Temple of Olympian Zeus, Athens. Elevation of the base of the columns.

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  1. - 6. Elevations of ancient temples. 7. - 10. Horologion of Andronikos Kyrristos (Tower of the Winds), Athens: Plan of the ceiling. Elevation, section plan and plan of the monument. 11. - 12. Elevation and section plan of the Choregic monument of Lysicrates, Athens. 13. - 16. Plan of tholos and elevations of Roman temples of this style.

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  Arch of Hadrian, Athens: 1. Bottom view of the south pylon. 2. Bottom view of the north columns of the lower level. 3. Elevation of the west side of the Arch. 4. - 5. Elevation of part of the entablature of the lower and upper levels.

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  1: Views and plans of Egyptian, Jewish and Phoenician temples. 2: Views and plans of Greek and Roman temples. 3: Views and plans of Christian temples.

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  Plan of the Acropolis of Athens.

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  Erechtheion: 1. View of Ionic capital. 2 and 3. Section plans of the helix of Ionic capital. 4. Section plan of the capital. 5. Side view of Ionian capital. 6. Bottom view of Ionian capital. 7. Bottom view of Ionian capital at the corner.

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  1 and 2. View of capital and base of capital from Erechtheion, Athens. 3 and 4. Views of bases of columns from Erechtheion. 5. Ionian capital from Eleusis. 6 and 7. Capital and base of capital from the Theater of Marcellus, Rome. 7 and 9. Capital and base of the capital from the Temple of Portunus, Rome.

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  The Temple of Rome and Augustus in Pula, Croatia.

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  Doric monuments of Rome: 1. and 2. Column and capital of column from the peristyle of Saint Peter's Basilica. 3. and 4. Column, capital and entablature of the theater of Marcellus.