Gymnasium at Troas, Plate LIII, Antique Engraving after William Pars, 1797

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

The view looks across a wide field of ruins. At the left stands a massive wall of squared blocks with a high arch and lower arches beside it, its top overgrown with shrubs and a small tree. In the center are further broken arches, and beyond them a long arcaded wall stretches across the middle distance. At the right rise two tall ruined piers and a heap of fallen masonry, with a low arch visible at its base. The foreground is rough ground with large boulders and bushes, where two men sit together on a rock, one in a turban holding a staff. Billowing clouds fill the upper right of the sky.

The lower left is lettered "Pars Delint." and the lower right "Byrne Sculpt.", naming the painter William Pars and the engraver William Byrne. The plate number "PL. LIII" 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. Alexandria Troas lies on the Aegean coast of northwest Turkey, south of the Dardanelles, and is named in the Acts of the Apostles as a port visited by Saint Paul.

The top edge is uneven in one place. Light uneven toning, browner towards the edges. Marked handling soiling along all four edges. Foxing over much of the margin. Slight wear at the top left corner. Several larger brown marks.

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