The Colonel and the Painter. The Medieval Monuments of Rhodes in the Eyes of Bernard Rottiers and Petrus Witdoeck in: Discovering Medieval Art while Looking for Antiquity. Travellers in Southern Europe (17th - Early 19th centuries), edited by Vinni Lucherini and Stefano D'Ovidio (Roma: Viella, 2024)

Discovering Medieval Art while Looking for Antiquity Travellers in Southern Europe (17th - Early 19th Centuries) edited by Vinni Lucherini and Stefano D’Ovidio VIELLA I libri di Viella Arte Quaderni napoletani di storia dell’arte medievale, 9 diretti da Vinni Lucherini Comitato scientifico Jaume Aurell, Michele Bacci, Xavier Barral i Altet, Stefano D’Ovidio, Roberto Delle Donne, Manuela Gianandrea, Miljenko Jurković, Tanja Michalsky, Éric Palazzo. I Quaderni napoletani di storia dell’arte medievale propongono ricerche su temi attinenti all’arte e all’architettura dell’Europa medievale, soprattutto meridionale e mediterranea, che contemperino l’analisi dei dati formali e strutturali delle opere con l’esame del ruolo che queste opere giocarono non solo nel quadro sociale in cui furono prodotte in origine, dal tardoantico al tardo Medioevo, ma anche nel corso della loro vita post-medievale. Tali indagini si articolano intorno a questioni trasversali rispetto ai settori disciplinari tradizionali, in un approccio di metodo alle opere d’arte che viene a incrociarsi con la storia della cultura, la storia della liturgia, la storia della santità, la storia della storiografia. Molti di questi studi trovano la loro genesi in ricerche svolte o promosse nel Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici dell’Università degli Studi di Napoli “Federico II”. Discovering Medieval Art while Looking for Antiquity Travellers in Southern Europe (17th - Early 19th Centuries) edited by Vinni Lucherini and Stefano D’Ovidio viella Copyright © 2024 – Viella s.r.l. Tutti i diritti riservati Prima edizione: aprile 2024 ISBN 979-12-5469-589-0 Il volume è stato finanziato con i fondi del programma Star Plus 2020 - Linea di intervento 1, HHS 21-UNINA-EPIG (Established Principal Investigator Grant) 093. Convenzione Università degli Studi di Napoli – Compagnia di San Paolo. Progetto di ricerca: The Discovery of Medieval Art while Looking for Antiquities. Perception of Medieval Heritage by European Travellers to Southern Italy and Central Mediterranean Countries (17th-19th centuries). Principal Investigator: Vinni Lucherini. Gli autori dei singoli saggi di questo volume sono personalmente responsabili dei diritti sulle illustrazioni riprodotte. Immagine in copertina: © The State Hermitage Museum / photo by Alexander Lavrentyev, Tatyana Gorbokoneva. DISCOVERING medieval art while looking for Antiquity : travellers in southern Europe (17th - early 19th centuries) / edited by Vinni Lucherini and Stefano D’Ovidio. - Roma : Viella, 2024. - 315 p. : ill. ; 24 cm. (I libri di Viella. Arte) Indici dei nomi e dei luoghi: p. [303]-311 ISBN 979-12-5469-589-0 1. Arte medievale - Descrizioni [dei] Viaggiatori europei - Europa meridionale - Sec. 17.-19. I. Lucherini, Vinni II. D’Ovidio, Stefano 709.02 (DDC WebDewey) Scheda bibliografica: Biblioteca Fondazione Bruno Kessler viella libreria editrice via delle Alpi 32 I-00198 ROMA tel. 06 84 17 75 8 fax 06 85 35 39 60 www.viella.it Contents Vinni Lucherini, Stefano D’Ovidio A Research Project of the University of Naples on the Discovery of Medieval Art while Looking for Antiquities between the 17th and the Early 19th Centuries 9 I. “Il viaggio d’Italia” Xavier Barral i Altet «Giotto est un des premiers peintres de son temps qui a ressuscité la peinture». The Marquis de Seignelay’s Journey to Italy in 1671 19 Antonio Brucculeri French Architects in Search of Antiquity in Late 18th Century Italy and the Discovery of the Middle Ages 31 Alicia Miguélez Classic and Gothic, North and South, East and West. William Beckford’s Travels to Southern Europe in Late 18th Century 45 II. From Verona and Ravenna to Sardinia Chiara Piva From «antichità cristiane» to «maniera gotica». Scipione Maffei’s Judgments on Medieval Works of Art 65 Laura Giacomini Words and Sketches on Medieval Architecture in the Itinerario of the Veronese Architect Luigi Trezza (1795) 85 Ilaria Serati An 18th Century Episode of the Figurative Fortune of the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna 101 6 Discovering Medieval Art Nicoletta Usai Sardinian Medieval Monuments in Travel Writing. From Martin Carrillo’s Relación al Rey (1612) to Alberto Ferrero della Marmora’s Voyage en Sardaigne (1826) 113 III. Rome and Naples Damiano Delle Fave Fortune and Misfortune of the Middle Ages in Rome Guidebooks from the 17th to the Early 19th Centuries 131 Bella Takushinova Admiring the Medieval. Russian Travellers of the Grand Tour in the Kingdom of Naples 143 IV. Sicily Antonino Tranchina “More Recent” than Antiquity. Georg Walther (ca. 1595-1625) and the Strive for the Medieval Past in Spaniard Sicily 161 Simone Piazza Trouvailles of Antique and Sacred Objects. The First Sicilian Travel of the Dominican Friar Giuseppe Allegranza (1750-1751) 181 Maria Giulia Aurigemma Léon Dufourny’s History Clock in the Periplus of Sicily (1788-1789) and beyond 197 V. Eastern Mediterranean Ana Šverko Medieval Architectural Heritage of Split in the Travelogues of Robert Adam and Louis-François Cassas 215 Damiana Di Bonito Naturalists and Antiquarians in Istria and Dalmatia between the 17th and the 18th Centuries. The Travels of George Wheler and Alberto Fortis 229 Alessandro Taddei The Monastery of Hosios Loukas through the Lens of Jacob Spon and George Wheler. Rediscovering Byzantine Greece 245 Contents 7 Ioanna Christoforaki The Colonel and the Painter. The Medieval Monuments of Rhodes in the Eyes of Bernard Rottiers and Petrus Witdoeck 263 Maria Aimé Villano Early Modern Western Travellers in Cyprus and their Perceptions of Medieval and Early Modern Inscriptions in Latin Characters 287 Index of Names 303 Index of Places 307 Contributors 313 Ioanna Christoforaki The Colonel and the Painter. The Medieval Monuments of Rhodes in the Eyes of Bernard Rottiers and Petrus Witdoeck En janvier 1826, je partis, accompagné d’un de mes fils et de mon peintre, M. P.-J. Witdoeck. Après avoir relâché à Santorin, nous débarquâmes à Rhodes, et à peine arrivés, nous commençâmes nos travaux.1 In January 1826, a colonel and a painter from Flanders sailed to the island of Rhodes. Their names were Bernarnd Eugène Antoine Rottiers and PetrusJosephus Witdoeck and they had arrived there on an expedition sponsored by the king of the Netherlands. In which capacity, however, did they undertake this voyage and what was their goal? Bernard Eugène Antoine Rottiers: Colonel and Collector Bernard Eugène Antoine Rottiers was born in 1771 in Antwerp, which was then under Austrian rule and governed by the House of Hapsburg (Fig. 1). Although he was expected to become a priest, he joined the Austrian army as soon as he turned 18. In 1792, however, when the French troops defeated the Austrians in the Battle of Jemappes, Rottiers fled to the northern Netherlands. After the Batavian Revolution of 1795, he escaped to England and in 1799 he participated in the Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland. He returned home in 1802, where he was appointed captain general of the army by Louis Napoleon, then king of Holland. In 1810, Rottiers joined the Russian army and moved with his family to Tbilisi, where he led military campaigns against the Persian and Ottoman armies. Although he was a colonel, Rottiers resigned from the service of the czar in 1818. He returned to the Netherlands with his wife, Placida Milo from Breda, and his six children, journeying from Tbilisi to Constantinople and Athens, and then Italy, France and England before finally reaching Antwerp in 1820.2 As a colonel in Russia, Rottiers earned more than enough to start building a collection of antiquities. During his trips in Turkey and Greece he had the 1. B.E.A. Rottiers, Description des Monumens de Rhodes, 2 vols., Bruxelles 1828-1830: I, Atlas and Rottiers; II, Text. Here II, p. 15. 2. B.E.A. Rottiers, Itinéraire de Tiflis à Constantinople, Bruxelles 1829.