Mount Athos Carved as a Monument to Alexander the Great1796
The architect Dinocrates is said to have proposed to Alexander the Great that Mount Athos be carved into a colossal statue of the king, holding a city in one hand and in the other a bowl from which a river would pour. More about this work
About this work
The architect Dinocrates is said to have proposed to Alexander the Great that Mount Athos be carved into a colossal statue of the king, holding a city in one hand and in the other a bowl from which a river would pour. Alexander declined, but the fantastic project, recorded by the Roman writer Vitruvius, fascinated later artists. Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes painted it in 1796 as the companion to his Alexander at the Tomb of Cyrus, turning the mountain itself into a monumental figure presiding over a classical landscape.
Written by Ochre Editions.
What you’re looking at
A work made of oil on canvas.
Description from the Art Institute of Chicago.
How it was made
- Oil paint
- Pigment ground in a drying oil, usually linseed. It dries slowly, so painters could blend on the canvas, build up thin translucent glazes, and rework a picture over weeks. Canvas replaced wooden panels in the 1500s because it is lighter and can be rolled.
Pierre Henri de Valenciennes
French, 1750–1819
Valenciennes was the leading theorist of French historical landscape. During years in Italy in the late 1770s and 1780s he made small oil sketches outdoors, recording the same rooftops or clouds at different times of day, studies he kept in his studio but which are now his most admired work. His treatise of 1800 urged students to paint from nature, and his teaching helped bring about the Prix de Rome for historical landscape, created in 1817.
Written by Ochre Editions.
Rights and the museum’s record
Public domain. The Art Institute of Chicago has dedicated this image to the public domain under CC0, so anyone may copy, adapt and use it, for any purpose, without asking. Our prints and files are reproductions made from the museum’s image; the museum doesn’t endorse them.
- Object number
- 1983.36
- Credit
- Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
- Type
- Painting
- Department
- Painting and Sculpture of Europe
- Licence
- CC0 1.0 Universal
- Museum record
- See it on the museum’s site
