Ancient Greek Exploits and Sites
These two prints convey visual information about Ancient Greece through engravings made from a sculptural relief and picturesque landscapes rather than from medals, outline drawings, or ancient busts. The Italian print from an ancient Roman sculptural relief reflects the revival of interest in the legendary story of Achilles in Scio in the late 18th century. The English print of a picturesque landscape reflects a surge of interest in ancient Greece among English artists and publishers in the 1830s and 1840s. In Melville’s library these prints were richly supplemented by Wordsworth’s Greece: Pictorial, Descriptive, and Historical, acquired in 1871 (see immediately below). Its 378 illustrations included twenty-four full-page steel-plate engravings.
- Works Cited in this section
- Bartlett, W. H. Walks about the City and Environs of Jerusalem. London: Virtue, 186-? (Sealts, no. 50).
- Hall, James. Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols in Art. New York: Harper and Row, 1979.
- Homerus. The Iliads of Homer, tr. George Chapman. 2 vol. London; Smith, 1857 (Sealts no. 277, MMO 277).
- ------. The Odysseys of Homer, tr. George Chapman. 2 vol. London: Smith, 1857 (Sealts no. 278, MMO 278).
- Visconti, Ennio Quirino. Il Museo Pio Clementi. Vol. 5. Rome: Luigi Miri, 1796.
- Wallace, Robert K. “’Aloof’ and ‘Aloft’: Cape Colonna in Melville’s Poem and Turner’s Engravings.” In Melville ‘Among the Nations’: Proceedings of an International Conference; Volos, Greece, July 2-6, 1977. Ed. Sanford E. Marovitz and A. C. Christodoulou. Kent OH: Kent State University Press, 2001. 463-471.
- Wordsworth, Christopher. Greece: Pictorial, Descriptive, and Historical. 2d ed. London: Orr, 1844 (Sealts no. 563).