Tombs of the Judges of Israel, near Jerusalem

Luigi Mayer (c.1755 - 1803)

Pencil, watercolour and gouache on paper

c.1793-1794

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  • About the work
    Location
    Country: Israel
    City: Tel Aviv
    Place: British Embassy

    These four watercolours, showing ancient ruins located in and around Jerusalem, were commissioned from the Italian artist Luigi Mayer by Sir Robert Ainslie. Ainslie was the ‘British Ambassador to the Ottoman Porte’ (the Ottoman Empire, of which Constantinople was the capital) from 1775 to 1793. He was also a collector and antiquarian, and he employed Mayer to record ruined structures throughout the Ottoman Empire.

  • About the artist
    Luigi Mayer was described as 'Roman by birth'. However, little is known of his early life. His family may have come from Switzerland, before later settling in Rome. He is thought to have been a pupil of the Accademia di San Luca and an assistant to etcher and architect Giovanni Battista Piranesi. Mayer probably left Rome for Naples and Sicily in the early 1770s, when he reputedly worked for the King of Naples. By 1778 he was employed by Prince Biscari, a Sicilian collector and antiquarian based in Catania. It may have been at Biscari's residence that Mayer was introduced to future patron Sir Robert Ainslie, British Ambassador at Constantinople. Mayer later established himself in London, where he published several series of aquatints.
  • Explore
    Places
    Middle East, Israel, Jerusalem
    Subjects
    horseback, topography, landscape C18th, horse, hill, man, gravestone, path, tomb/sepulchre/mausoleum, ruin
    Materials & Techniques
    paper (as artists material), watercolour (as artists materials), gouache (as artists material), pencil, gouache (as object name), watercolour (as object name)
  • Details
    Artist
    Luigi Mayer (c.1755 - 1803)
    Title
    Tombs of the Judges of Israel, near Jerusalem
    Date
    c.1793-1794
    Medium
    Pencil, watercolour and gouache on paper
    Dimensions
    height: 47.50 cm, width: 65.00 cm
    Acquisition
    Purchased from Eyre & Hobhouse, September 1984
    Inscription
    sbl&ins
    Provenance
    Commissioned by Sir Robert Ainslie (1730-1812), HMA to Constantinople; with Eyre & Hobhouse; from whom purchased by the Government Picture Collection in September 1984
    GAC number
    16280