William Page Temple of Cybele, Sardis

Watercolour over traces of graphite

28.9 x 41.5 cm

This watercolour is drawn in the artist’s mature style.

Sardis in antiquity was the capital of the Lydian Empire and one of the great cities of Asia Minor. Today the site is near the village of Sart in western Turkey’s Manusa province. The early Lydian kingdom was an advanced centre of carpet manufacturing and dyeing. During the reign of Croesus, the last Lydian king, the secret of separating gold and silver was discovered, which made the city rich before it was conquered by the Persians in the mid-sixth century BC.

Cybele was the patron goddess of the city, and the temple, datable to the 6th century BC, is one of the earliest representations of the Ionic style.