Antiquarianism in the Aegean

The drawings made by the merchant, traveller and antiquarian Ciriaco d’Ancona (1391-1452) during his journeys to ancient sites around the Aegean and the eastern Mediterranean do not survive, but they were widely circulated and copied, and had a great influence on later art.  This drawing from Fonzio’s manuscript is a copy of Ciriaco’s of a 4th-century BCE relief from the sanctuary of the Great Gods on the island of Samothrace.  The identification of these dancing women as the Nine Muses was Ciriaco’s invention.  Similar chains of women appear in the bizarre and spectacular Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (1499), an erotic antiquarian romance set among the remains of a superior ancient civilisation, and decorated by no less than 170 woodcuts. 

Credit: Oren Margolis (July 2018)