Eliza Mayes (fl. mid 19th Century)

Ruins of the Temple of Aphaia on the Island of Aegina, Greece

SOLD

Signed and dated l.r.: Eliza Mayes/1861, watercolour over pencil heightened with bodycolour

38.5 x 56.3 cm.; 15 ¼ x 22 1/8 inches

The picturesque temple of Jupiter Panhellenius stands on Mount Panhellion and commands a view of the Saronic Gulf. It is dedicated to Aphaia, a goddess whose cult was only found at Aegina, and it is one of the loveliest late Archaic temples in Greece.

In 1811 C.R. Cockerell and Baron Haller von Hallerstein excavated and found the fallen pedimental sculpture from the Temple dating from circa 510 to 490 BC. Seventeen statues which they excavated were acquired from them by Ludwig I of Bavaria and are today in the Glyptothek in Munich.

The artist does not appear to be recorded but evidently enjoyed painting the blue sea and sky off Aegina.