Letters to Miranda and Canova on the abduction of antiquities from Rome and Athens

Abstract

This is the first English translation of French art critic Quatermere de Quincy's controversial series of letters about the removal of antiquities from and Athens. In the 1790s and early 1800s, the art world experienced two big events: First came the military confiscation of masterpieces from Italy and northern Europe in order to build a universal museum in Paris' Louvre. Then famous marble sculptures were prised from the Parthenon and sent to London. These events provoked reactions ranging from enthusiastic applause to enraged condemnation. The French art critic, architectural theoretician, and political conservative Quatremere de Quincy was at the centre of the European debates. In his pamphlet Letters to Miranda, he condemns the revolutionary hubris of putting Rome in Paris and urges the return of the works. In the Letters to Canova, however, Quatremere celebrates the British Museum for making the Parthenon sculptures accessible. Quatremere's writing was highly controversial in its time. This book offers the first English translation of the two series of letters, as well as a new critical introduction.

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