The Temporary Elgin Room (1819), oil painting on canvas

Description: 

This figure depicts Archibald Archer's 1819 oil potrayal of the original, temporary gallery in which the Elgin Marbles were sheltered and displayed.  This would have been the environment in which John Keats would have encountered the sculptures.  The dark, close-knit, claustophobia-inducing space clearly demonstrate to a viewer that same feeling of being caught in a "shadow of magnitude" that John Keats recalls in his poem, "On Seeing the Elgin Marbles."

Image sourced from The British Museum's collection; can be viewed at nhttps://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/image/968585001

Associated Place(s)

Artist: 

  • Archibald Archer

Image Date: 

1819