Gymnasium at Ephesus, Antique Engraving after William Pars, 1797

An original antique copper engraving, uncolored, published in 1797. The caption engraved below the image reads "Gymnasium at Ephesus."

The ruined gymnasium stands at the center of the view. Its lower story is built of large squared blocks pierced by arches, and above it rises a high mass of masonry crowned with shrubs. To the right, detached piers and fallen blocks lead the eye toward a further low ruin on the far right, with hills closing the view on both sides under a broad, cloudy sky. At the left a travelers' camp is pitched beside the ruin: a tent with figures seated in its shade, men in turbans standing nearby, one seated on a block, and smoke rising from a fire. A horseman carrying a long gun rides across the middle ground, and several muskets lie on a rug spread on the grass in front of him.

The lower left is lettered "Pars Delint." and the lower right "Byrne Sculpt.", naming the painter William Pars as draftsman and William Byrne as engraver. The plate number "PL. XXXIX." is engraved at the upper right.

This plate was issued in Antiquities of Ionia, Part the Second, published by the Society of Dilettanti in London in 1797. William Pars (1742 to 1782) was the English painter of the Society's expedition to Ionia. Ephesus was one of the great Ionian Greek cities on the west coast of Asia Minor; its ruins lie near the modern town of Selçuk in Turkey.

Light uneven toning, browner towards the edges. Marked handling soiling along the bottom, left and right edges. Foxing over much of the margin. All four corners complete. Minor edge wear, shallow nicks along the top.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.