William Page

Inscribed u.r.: Ruins of [.....]/Pergamon, graphite

45.2 x 59.9 cm

Cockerell described the ampitheatre as an extraordinary building. It stands in a narrow valley astride of a river. The two sides of the valley make the two ends of the oval, and the middle stands upon arches under which the river runs. It is half a mile from Pergamon.

Near modern day Bergama in Turkey, Pergamon was a great centre of Greek culture and flourished under Eumenes II (197–159 BC), who was responsible for the construction of most of its main public buildings. It reached its heyday under Imperial Rome and grew hugely under Hadrian, with its sanctuary becoming one of the most important healing centres in the Roman world. Its library was second only to that of Alexandria.

In 1842 Page exhibited at the Royal Academy a watercolour entitled Ruins of the Amphitheatre at Pergamos, Asia Minor, no. 892, which may be presumed to be based upon the present drawing, which was made with the aid of a camera obscura.

Giovanni Battista Borra, the architect and artist who accompanied Robert Wood on his travels in Greece and the Levant in 1750–51, also drew this view.