Turkey, Mersin ROCKY ANAMUR SEA COAST SAILBOAT WAVES ~ 1836 Art Print Engraving

Description: COAST OF ASIA MINOR, NEAR ANAMOUR Artist: William Henry Bartlett ____________ Engraver: J. Tingle Note: the title in the table above is printed below the engraving CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE ANTIQUE VIEWS OF MIDDLE EASTERN SCENERY AND TOPOGRAPHICAL VIEWS LIKE THIS ONE!! AN ANTIQUE STEEL ENGRAVING MADE IN THE LATE 1830s! VERY OLD WORLD! INCREDIBLE DETAIL! FROM THE ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION: The coast of Asia Minor presents a great variety of magnificent scenery: the headlands are often so shelterless and iron-bound, that the wanderer would gladly, in a gale of wind, exchange their lofty and romantic masses for a low, sandy, and monotonous beach. In an open boat, attacked by the fever, and driving before a wild in-shorewind, the artist was passing beneath the fierce cliffs of Cape Anamour, each sight and sound in unison with the helplessness of disease, and the agitation of the thoughts. A tremendous cavern opened its dark abyss close at hand, and the roar of the waves came with a hollow and sepulchral voice from within: the sea-birds swept shrieking around the boat and the cave, and a vessel came drifting headland before the blast. Yet enthusiasm triumphed over the scene and the fever, and the artist, in the midst of the storm, sketched eagerly the gloomy and startling scene around him. Not very far from this spot, and at the base of a rocky promontory, was a most romantic cove, for which the boats made, and succeeded in entering. Anamour was near at hand, the ruins of its castle, theatre, acqueduct, &c.: how gladly would even the ruins of Balbechave been given in that moment for a clean cottage, a comfortable chamber, and kind attendance. The situation of the ruins of Anamour, the ancient Anamurium, is quite as fantastic and bold as that of the town of Alaya. The lofty cape has been fortified by a castle and outworks on the summit, (500 feet above the sea,) from whence a flanked wall, with towers, descends to the shore; a second wall, six feet thick, runs nearly parallel to this: it appears of later construction. Two aqueducts, on different levels, that wind alofig the hill for several miles, supplied this fortress with water; and when carried across the ravines, they are supported on arches. "In the interval between the two walls," says Captain Beaufort in his excellent description, " there are some large buildings and two theatres; the most perfect of these is a hundred feet long by seventy wide, inclosed by plain walls, and containing six semicircular rows of seats; it appears to have been roofed, and was probably an Odeum, or music theatre; the other is about 200 feet in diameter, and partly cut out of the slope of the hill. It has been mentioned, that the columns of the mausoleum of Trajanopolis, (thirty miles distant,) and the seats of the theatre, had been carried away: so have those also of these theatres; and it is remarkable, that in the whole extent of this place, there is scarcely to be found a vestige of a column, or a loose block of marble of more than ordinary size. Yet there are no buildings in the neighbourhood, for which they could have been purloined; and the only alternative is, that every thing worth the removal has been transported to the island of Cyprus, winch is at no great distance, and where arts and commerce flourished long after this coast had become the prey of a succession of ruffian conquerors. We then hastened to examine a wide field of ruins outside of the walls, which at first sight had appeared like the remains of a large city. It was indeed a city, but a city of tombs, a true Necropolis. The contrast between the slight and perishable materials with which the habitations of the living were constructed, and the care and skill bestowed by the ancients, to render durable the abodes of the dead, is more than ordinarily impressed upon the mind at this place: for though all the tombs have been long since opened and ransacked, the walls are still sound ; whereas, of their dwellings not one continues in existence. These tombs are small buildings, detached from each other, and mostly of the saifte. size, though varying in their proportions: the roofs are arched, and the exterior of the walls is dashed-with a composition of plaster, and small particles of burnt red brick. Each tomb consists of two chambers; the inner one is subdivided into cells or receptacles foir the bodies; and the outer apartment is provided with small recesses and shelves, as if for the purpose of depositing the funeral offerings, or the urns that contained the ashes. These antechambers may have been likewise intended for 'the ceremonies and lamentations of the mourners; they are stuccoed, and neatly finished with that kifid of border which is commonly called a la Grecque. This is the third distinct kind of sepulchre that we observed on these coasts: first, at Makry, Myra, and other places' the excavated catacomb, with the entrance carefully closed by a slab of .rock; the front of the catacomb is frequently ornamented with a pediment land columns, all worked out of the solid rock. Secondly, as at Patara, Phaselis, &c. the sarcophagus was more or less decorated, but always consisting of a single block of stone, hollowed like a chest, and covered with another immense stone in the shape of a low-roof or pediment. And, thitdlyi the house-built sepulchres of this place, covered in by an. arch, and separated into chambers for the dead and for the mourners. The two former special generally bear-inscriptions, whereas these silent tombs display no record of the names and qualities of their occupiers. Anamour is now altogether deserted, peopled only by tombs: even the shepherd does not build his hut, nor: the fisherman spread his nets, among these sepulchral memorials of a great population. The coast, to the extent of thirty miles in each side of Anamour, is bold, sometimes magnificent, yet it is an unlovely and desolate coast and country, interrupted at long intervals by narrow and dreary valleys, which conduct the mountain torrents to the sea: here and there a solitary hut, inhabited by savage-looking, people: yet beyond Selinty on one side, and to a great .distance on the other, there is hardly an isle, a hill, or peninsula, that has not its ruins, the-vestiges of former life, activity, and dominion: strong and massive walls, inclosing, a-houseless area, on whose rank soil wanton the wild flowers and aromatic herbs, rich pasture for the solitary flocks: or the vestiges of a theatre, that once rang with the 'sounds of music: and the shouts of. the multitude, still resist the sweep of the winds that fall with great fury on these heights' These massive sepulchres, from which the ashes are long since gone, are all that remain of the eminent cities of Myra Anemurium, and Phaselis: they will endure to the end of time; and at Anamour, if ranged with greater regularity, they would resemble the street of tombs in Pompeii; they are little melancholy edifices, without beauty or impressiveness, save as valuable memorials of the resolve of, the past generations of Anamour, to sleep within " walls of brass, and gates of iron" unmolested till the day of doom. At present they look like the Stonehenge of a foreign land; diminutive, yet very numerous, covering great part of the declivity to within a short distance of the sea: a severe mockery on the anxiety and foresight of the builders. It seems to be the destiny of man, that he must make his last rest beneath the earth, and not upon it: had the kings and judges of Israel been contented to repose in the tumuli on the plain or the hill-side, on their remains the dews of heaven had still descended, and the sun lingered: their sepulches of pride, carved in the rock, have been ravaged and defiled as base things. The Indian prince of North, and the cacique of South America, lie each in his narrow bed, his lonely tumulus, on which the thickets blossom, and the tall grass and wild flowers wave: many a Saxon noble still rests in his sepulchre, with his arms beside him, the rude mound unbroken. The Cove in which the boats sought shelter from the gale, on the shores of Anamour was of most romantic aspect: it had no music of streams or groves, or glad voices of children from the neat hamlet, or pipe of the shepherd: sternly girded by its pale and sullen cliffs, it was naked and silent as the empty sepulchres of Anamour; and yet most welcome, as the nearest and only refuge from the storm. PRINT DATE: This lithograph was printed in the late 1830s; it is not a modern reproduction in any way. PRINT SIZE: 7 inches by 10 inches including white border of apprpoximately one inch on each side (not shown in scan). PRINT CONDITION: Condition is fine. Bright and clean. Blank on reverse. BIOGRAPHY OF ARTIST: William Henry Bartlett, (b London, 26 March 1809; died at sea off Malta, 13 Sept 1854) was an English draughtsman, active also in the Near East, Continental Europe and North America. He was a prolific artist and an intrepid traveller. His work became widely known through numerous engravings after his drawings published in his own and other writers' topographical books. His primary concern was to extract the picturesque aspects of a place and by means of established pictorial conventions to render 'lively impressions of actual sights', as he wrote in the preface to The Nile Boat (London, 1849). The background for his work on the Middle East and the Holy Land, of which the picture represented is one of his several hundred illustrations on the subject, is as follows: In the early 1800s, the middle east was a very popular subject. Between 1790, when James Bruce's "Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile" appeared, and 1818, when Edward Daniel Clarke's eight volumes on "Travels in Various Countries of Europe, Asia and Africa were published, more than twenty noteworthy travel books about the Near and Middle East were placed before the public. Napoleon's conquest of Egypt and his disastrous campaign in Syria had attracted considerable attention to the East even as Byron's travels and poetry, a decade later, stirred romantic imaginings about Turkey, Greece, and the Levant. The inter-relationships of Muhammed Ali, Sultan Mahmud, and Tsar Nicholas also guaranteed that, politically, western Europe had to remain alert to happenings at the eastern end of the Mediterranean. And, of course, the building of railways in France and the introduction of the steamship greatly facilitated travel to the Middle East. Though these were strong influences on western travellers, it is questionable, in Bartlett's case, if any affected him more than the religious one. His detailed knowledge of the scriptures and of biblical history is apparent throughout his writings. He wanted to see the lands of the Old and New Testament as much for his own sake as he did for the sketches he was commissioned to take from the London, England publishing firm of H. Fisher and Son. So Bartlett set out for the middle east on January second, 1834, accompanied by his wife. Mr. Bartlett proceeded directly to Paris; thence by the nearest route to Naples where the couple spent some time on those pleasant shores. From there, Mr Bartlett took leave of his wife, who returned reluctantly to England by herself, while he engaged passage to Malta, and from there to Alexandria and finally to Beirut Lebanon. From here he began his many excursions into the inland of Syria and neighboring areas. On leaving Beirut, Mr. Bartlett followed the sea shore to Tripoli, and then ascended the steeps of Lebanon and visited Baalbec. His intended visit to Jerusalem, the chief object of his journey, was defeated by the open war, in which the Holy City had been taken by Egyptian forces loyal to Mohammed Ali and his son Ibrahim Pasha, who wrested control of Palestine from the Ottomans for a 10-year period beginning in 1831. From Balbec, he therefore proceeded to Antioch and to Tarsus, along which part of this journey he was taken by a serious fever. Having completed his tour in syria, and taken sketches of all the biblical and classical scenes in his route, Bartlett returned to London in January, 1835, a full year after his departure. He had performed his engagements greatly to the satisfaction of his publisher, and immediately began to prepare sketches for the engravers. SHIPPING:Buyers to pay shipping/handling, domestic orders receives priority mail, international orders receive regular mail. We pack properly to protect your item! Please note: the terms used in our auctions for engraving, heliogravure, lithograph, print, plate, photogravure etc. are ALL prints on paper, NOT blocks of steel or wood. "ENGRAVINGS", the term commonly used for these paper prints, were the most common method in the 1700s and 1800s for illustrating old books, and these paper prints or "engravings" were inserted into the book with a tissue guard frontis, usually on much thicker quality rag stock paper, although many were also printed and issued as loose stand alone prints. So this auction is for an antique paper print(s), probably from an old book, of very high quality and usually on very thick rag stock paper. EXTREMELY RARE IN THIS EXCELLENT CONDITION!

Price: 7.99 USD

Location: New Providence, New Jersey

End Time: 2024-11-14T21:13:12.000Z

Shipping Cost: 7.95 USD