James Skene, The Treasury of Atreus, 1839, watercolour

Originally the Scottish nobleman James Skene of Rubislaw sketched and depicted in watercolour as an amateur the places he visited during the Grand Tour he embarked on across Europe in 1800. In March 1838 he visited, together with his family, Greece, where he stayed for a long time, until 1845, based in Athens, due to family ties, as two of his children married in the country. Skene toured extensively Attica and also Central Greece and the Peloponnese, drawing and painting landscapes and their monuments. In Mycenae he depicted the monumental entrance to the so-called Treasury of Atreus on the left, while in the foreground locals shown in relaxation offer a sense of scale. (National Historical Museum, Paintings Collection, inv. no. 15153/62)

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