Monument on the Coast of Syria, Antique Hand Colored Aquatint, 1810

An original antique aquatint with original hand color, 1810, one of the views drawn by Luigi Mayer and published in London by Robert Bowyer. The caption engraved below the image reads "MONUMENT ON THE COAST OF SYRIA No 2".

The interior of a large chamber with a shallow vaulted ceiling. Rows of small rectangular recesses are cut into the walls, and tall pointed niches open in the side walls. In the center of the back wall a rectangular doorway leads into a dark passage, where a flight of steps climbs toward daylight and two figures stand at the top.

Turbaned men in long robes stand in groups across the floor, several holding staffs. At the lower left a man sits against the wall holding a pipe to his lips, and at the right a man points toward a bright opening in the wall, from which light falls across the floor.

No artist or engraver is named on the plate, and it carries no plate number. The caption is engraved in open capitals below the image, and beneath it a publication line in script gives the publisher Robert Bowyer, his address at 80 Pall Mall, and the date 1810. The plate comes from Views in the Ottoman Dominions, in Europe, in Asia, and some of the Mediterranean Islands, from the original drawings taken for Sir Robert Ainslie, by Luigi Mayer, printed by T. Bensley for R. Bowyer in London in 1810 with 71 hand colored aquatint plates (Abbey, Travel II, 371; Tooley 321). In the book each plate was accompanied by a page of descriptive text in French and English. The plates are unsigned; the aquatint work is probably by William Watts. Luigi Mayer (1755 to 1803) was an Italian born artist who worked in the Ottoman Empire for Sir Robert Ainslie, British ambassador at Constantinople.

Even age toning. Handling soiling along the bottom and right edges. Foxing over much of the margin. All four corners complete. Several larger brown marks. A small light fleck in the printed area.

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