Elgin’s Watercolourist
- The Betrayal Of Don Titta
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Deborah first discovered Giovanni Battista Lusieri, affectionately known as Don Titta, and became fascinated by his story when she visited Expanding Horizons, the first exhibition devoted exclusively to his work, held in the National Galleries of Scotland. During his lifetime, he was hailed as one of the most gifted of all living landscape artists. But within a few years of his death, he sank into obscurity. Few would have known that the vast beautiful panoramic landscape which formed the backdrop for the 2017 exhibition at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, London, Emma Hamilton, the Lady with Attitudes, was one of his finest pieces of work. Hired by Lord Elgin, appointed ambassador to the Ottoman Empire in 1799, to draw and paint views and antiquities, the scope and duration of his employment was extended far beyond what he could ever have imagined.
It was Don Titta, along with Lord Elgin’s chaplain, the Reverend Hunt, who begged Lord Elgin to ask the Grand Vizir in Constantinople to intercede and stop Ottoman abuses of the monuments. Their efforts were in vain. It seemed the only way to save the sculptural marvels was to take them out of danger’s way. It fell to Lusieri to mastermind and effect their removal.
In 1809, Lord Byron, not yet the famous poet he was to become, touched Athenian shores and befriended Don Titta. Over the course of their friendship, Byron wrote the works which would ensure his immortality but which would also demonise Lord Elgin, a man he had never met and of whose motives he was ignorant. Byron’s vilification of Lord Elgin and by extension poor Don Titta still casts its dark shadow today as Greeks and Englishmen lay legitimate claim to the marbles on display in the British Museum.
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Eruption of Vesuvius
Discover The Antiquities
Elgin’s Watercolourist is about the removal of the Parthenon marbles brought by Lord Elgin from Athens and now on display in the Duveen Gallery of the British Museum. There can be no effective safeguard of historic and artistic heritage without the recognition of what it is that needs to be protected. In the early 19th century in the Ottoman Empire, there was no collective will to protect ancient remains. Today, there are Greek antiquities distributed throughout the world’s museums. The artefacts on display were collected by travellers, mostly from Northern Europe, who recognised how precious a historical record they were and devoted their resources to collecting them so as to display them. The items on display in today’s museums found their way there because the collectors realised the importance of preserving them, and of ensuring that the public had access to them. Sadly, there were many travellers who took or purchased ancient artefacts purely as souvenirs of their travels. These are lost to posterity forever. Among the many museums which have antiquities collected by travellers are:
An outstanding modern archaeological museum, opened in 2010, designed by renowned architect Bernard Schumi, is a glass structure built opposite the Acropolis to house the findings and remaining antiquities of the Parthenon.
Dedicated to human history, the British Museum comprises one of the largest collections of antiquities in the world, having been assembled there since its founding in 1753. The Elgin Marbles, acquired by the British Museum in 1816, were regarded as a major part of the core collection.
Built from 1910 to 1930 by order of German Emperor Wilhelm II, the Pergamon’s collections of antiquity include architecture, sculptures, inscriptions and pottery from Olympia, Samos, Pergamon, Miletus and Cyprus.
The Glyptothek, Munich’s oldest public museum, was commissioned by the Crown Prince (later King) Ludwig I of Bavaria. The building, which houses the State Collection of Greek and Roman Antiquities, was designed as a monument to Ancient Greece. King Ludwig envisioned a "German Athens", in which the ancient Greek culture would be remembered.
