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View of Mount Emo [Haemus] or Great Balkan in Bulgaria with guards assembled to collect a toll from travellers

Watercolour
ca. 1800 (painted)
Artist/Maker
Mayer, Luigi (painter (artist))
Place of origin
Bulgaria (painted)

Watercolour drawing


Object details

Category
Paintings
Object type
Watercolour
TitleView of Mount Emo [Haemus] or Great Balkan in Bulgaria with guards assembled to collect a toll from travellers (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Watercolour and gouache with gum, heightened with white
Watercolour
Watercolour Drawing
Brief description
Watercolour, View of Mount Emo [Haemus]or Great Balkan in Bulgaria with guards assembled to collect a toll from travellers, about 1800, by Luigi Mayer
Physical description
Watercolour drawing
Dimensions
  • Height: 39.8cm
  • Width: 55.6cm
Styles
Italian School
Orientalism
Marks and inscriptions
Lettered VEDUTA DEL MONTE EMO OGGI G. BALCAN NELLA BULGARIA CON GUARDIE ATTRUPPATE PER FARE CONTRIBUIRE LI PASSAGERI. Tavola No.XXII del Viaggio pittoresco del Sigr. Cavae. Roberto Ainslie.
Translation
View of Mount Emo [Haemus], today called the Great Balkan Mountain in Bulgaria, with guards assembled to collect a toll from travellers. Illustration number 22 of the `Picturesque Journey of Sir Robert Ainsley.'
Credit line
Purchased with the assistance of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, Art Fund, Shell International and the Friends of the V&A
Object history
According to Rodney Searight: - `Bt fr C. Powney, Oct.1970 55/-[shillings] (net)'.
Historical context
A worked up watercolour depicting an incident during the return journey from Constantinople to England of Ainslie and his suite. Cf. another view, No.13 in the same series, Veduta Di Boschi Tra Le Montagne Del Gran Balcan Nella Bulgaria, formerly with Abbott & Holder, 1977/8. See also Mayer, Ottoman Dominions, 1810, Pl.17, Mount Balkan, and Pl.18, Road over the Balkan Mountain; also in Mayer, Turkey in Europe and Asia, 1801[-06], [Part 1], Pls 10 & 11 (see SP.379 & SP.380). Monte Emo is Eminska Planina (Turkish Emine Dag, Greek Haemus) in Bulgaria. SD.650-653 were probably initally executed in 1794 during the journey of Ainslie and his suite through the Balkans when returning to England from Constantinople. Thirty-two similar drawings from this journey, one dated 4 July 1794, are in a private collection, London: see list in Searight Archive. For details of Ainslie's party and their route, see extract from Foreign Office papers in Searight Archive.
Subjects depicted
Travellers
Toll Gates
Mountains
Places depicted
Bulgaria
Mount Haemus
Eminska Planina
Bibliographic references
  • See large group of gouche drawings by Luigi Mayer, commissioned by Robert Ainslie (1729-1812) in Adam's Country House Collections at Slane Castle, Co. Meath, catalogue of auction held on 6th October 2009, lots 517 to 542.
  • Searight, Rodney and Scarce, Jennifer M., A Middle Eastern journey : artists on their travels from the collection of Rodney Searight, Talbot Rice Art Centre, 1980
  • Searight, Rodney. The Middle East : watercolours and drawings by British and foreign artists and travellers, 1750-1900, from the collection of Rodney Searight, Esq. London, 1971
Collection
Prints, Drawings & Paintings Collection
Accession number
SD.653

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Record createdMarch 2, 2008
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O146572/view-of-mount-emo-haemus-watercolour-mayer-luigi/
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