Creating Palmyra’s Legacy

In 1784 French artist and architect Louis-François Cassas (1756–1827) traveled to the Eastern Mediterranean as part of a diplomatic mission to the Ottoman court. Cassas was commissioned by French Ambassador Marie-Gabriel-Florent-Auguste de Choiseul-Gouffier, an antiquarian and author of important works on Greece's classical past, to record the monuments of Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Cyprus, Palestine, and Asia Minor.

During this three-year expedition, Cassas created hundreds of drawings that formed the basis of his 1799–1800 publication Voyage pittoresque de la Syrie, de la Phoénicie, de la Palestine, et de la Basse Egypte. The more than 100 large-format etchings representing Palmyra, which appear in the first volume of this publication, constitute nearly one-third of its illustrations. In 1984 Getty Research Institute acquired an extraordinary collection of "proof" or trial prints made after drawings that Cassas produced during his voyage, in addition to a manuscript written in preparation for the publication. This unpublished manuscript provides detailed notes on the architectural splendors of Palmyra's tombs, temples, aqueducts, arches, porticoes, sculptures, and friezes, with an added précis of its history, rediscovery, and exploration.

Arriving in Palmyra on either May 22 or 23, 1785, Cassas assiduously worked to record the immense quantity of ruins scattered across the landscape until departing a month later with a caravan of 500 camels heading on to Baalbek in modern-day Lebanon. Aspiring to surpass earlier publications on Palmyra, Cassas wanted to awe and inspire his European audience by lavishly documenting this great ancient city surrounded by the desert. His panoramic etchings conform to the voyage pittoresque tradition, inviting the viewer to simultaneously marvel at the grandeur of antiquity and lament its inevitable decay. An amalgamation of orientalism and antiquarianism, the prints made from his drawings show local Bedouins inhabiting a dramatic landscape strewn with antique blocks, Corinthian columns, and monumental doorways. His primary objective to systematically record the artistry and ingenuity of this civilization is evident from Cassas's numerous technical renderings of the imposing civic and religious architecture. Floor plans and reconstructed architectural elevations are complemented by details of ornamental features.

After returning to France, Cassas became a professor of drawing at the renowned Gobelins Manufactory, where he most likely used his own ornament studies for teaching. By recasting his drawings into etchings for publication, Cassas created ready sources of inspiration for architects, painters, and designers working in the decorative arts.