August 23 through January 18, 2004
At The Fogg Art Museum (more about the Fogg)

David G. De Long. Marble Court: Reconstructed view looking west, 1968. Black ink with traces of graphite on translucent vellum paper, 66.1 x 87.3 cm. Copyright Archaeological Exploration of Sardis.

The ancient city of Sardis in western Turkey, the capital of the Lydian kingdom (7-6th c. B.C.), has been explored and studied for 45 years through a project called the Archaeological Exploration of Sardis, co-sponsored by the Harvard University Art Museums and Cornell University.

The primary aim of fieldwork at Sardis has been to clarify the cultural history and urban development of the ancient city, and the culture of the Lydians, through mapping, excavation, and surveys of different kinds. This exhibit of 50 objects is about the topographic landscape and historic architecture of Sardis, and their graphic recording since the middle of the 18th century.

The drawings in this exhibition illustrate a variety of aims and approaches over a span of two and a half centuries, and record major monuments and landscapes. The oldest drawings are hand-measured pencil and ink renderings from the Age of Enlightenment. The latest drawings employ electronic and computerized technologies that expand traditional aims of graphic recording.

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