The Temple of Apollo Didymaeus near Miletus

Object Type
This print was produced by a combination of two printmaking techniques: etching and engraving. An etching is produced by biting lines in a metal plate with acid. An engraving is made by first cutting lines into the surface of a flat piece of metal. The printmaker makes lines of both types on a single piece of metal which are then filled with ink and printed onto paper to produce the image.

Patrons: The Society of Dilettanti
The Society of Dilettanti was formed in 1734. The original members of the society were aristocratic gentlemen who had returned from the Grand Tour, and formed a society to encourage the fine arts in Britain.

In April 1764 the Society of Dilettanti sent an expedition to Asia Minor (now Turkey) 'to collect Informations relative to the former state of those countries, and particularly to procure exact descriptions of the Ruins of such Monuments of Antiquity as are yet to be seen in those parts'. The results of the expedition were published in two volumes, entitled The Antiquities of Ionia, in 1769 and 1798. The volumes contained engravings of ancient sites in Greece and Asia Minor, accompanied by architectural and historical information.

Subject Depicted
This print shows part of the ruins of the Temple of Apollo Didymaeus near Miletus, an ancient city settled by the Greeks in Ionia, the central west coast of present-day Turkey. The accompanying text makes it clear that the artist included the two local men to give some indication of the great size of the ruined capitals.