Beschreibung:

Greece—Moritz GuiotZur Erinnerung meines Aufenhaltes in Hellas. [Greece, 1834-1835] SKETCHBOOK, 8vo (167 x 114mm.), approximately 45 leaves (some blank) containing manuscript title-page in pen and ink and 33 drawings, comprising: 22 pen and ink, 8 watercolour over pen and ink, and 3 pencil, contemporary calf-backed marbled boards, contents loose, binding detached, lacking backstrip A CHARMING SKETCHBOOK OF DRAWINGS OF GREEK CITIES AND SITES, including Chalcis, Zante, Argos, and Athens, some featuring figures, including a delightful coloured sketch of men dancing. After Greece had achieved independence from the Ottoman Empire, the first king of the new realm was the son of Ludwig of Bavaria, the young prince Otto (1815-67), chosen at the conference in London in 1832. He arrived in Greece at Nafplion, the then capital, on February 6 1833, but was under a council of regency until he attained his majority on 1 June 1835, by which time he had arrived in Athens. He had with him a substantial number of Bavarians, who had already been active in the struggle for independence (see Heideck, Die bayerische Philhellener Fahrt 1826-29, Munich 1897-98) and Moritz Guiot would seem to have been one of these. The order of the sketches indeed would seem to indicate the progress of the King towards Athens, and the latest drawings, dating from Spring and Summer 1835, are of Athenian subjects. The first drawing (and the earliest dated – of Missolonghi) dates from March 1834. PROVENANCE:Sotheby's, Natural History, Atlases and Travel, 26 November 1996, lot 257Condition reportTo request a