A Luminous Land: Artists Discover Greece

by Richard Stoneman

The attraction that Greece exerts on travellers has been amply recorded through the ages by artists. Compiled from private and public collections from around the world, the art reproduced in this book represents a lovely guide to this luminous land. Artists include Nicholas Revett, Karl Friedrich Schinkel, Carl Rottmann, James Skene, Edward Dodwell, Vicenzo Coronelli, Quatremere de Quincy, Edward Lear, and Vasilii Grigorovich-Barskii. A number of the selections relate to the events surrounding the War of Independence, and particular emphasis is given to the German painters of the 1830s and their pupils, who are comparatively little known in the English-speaking world.

Genres: Art

178 pages, Hardcover

First published July 2, 1998

About the author

"I was born just a few miles from Exeter and have been an Honorary Fellow in the department since 1996. I spent thirty years as a classics editor, most of those years for Routledge; since retiring from that role in 2006, and returning from London to live in Devon, I have been taking an active part in university affairs, including teaching, research and a planned conference.

The core of my research interests has been the continuity of the Greek world and Greek tradition up to the present day. I have written anthologies and travel guides reflecting this interest. Since the early 1980s the main focus of my research has been Alexander the Great, especially in later legend. I have recently participated in several international conferences on the Ancient Novel and on Philip and Alexander. I am currently writing a biography of Xerxes and a study of Megasthenes.

Besides Latin and Greek, my languages include fluent German and adequate French, Italian and Modern Greek. I am taking classes in Turkish and Persian.

I am also Chairman of Westminster Classic Tours (www.westminsterclassictours.com), a company which runs gület tours to classical sites around the Turkish coast and Greek Islands.

In 2009 I was appointed Consulting Editor in Classics to I.B. Tauris Publishers in London, and am actively seeking new authors for their classics programme, and for the series I edit, 'Understanding Classics'.

In 2010 I organised a conference at Exeter University, in conjunction with the Institute of Arab and islamic Studies, on 'The Alexander Romance in Persia and the East'. There were delegates from every continent."