VUE INTERIEURE DU TEMPLE DE SEGESTE: BY JEAN-PIERRE-LOUIS-LAURENT HOUEL, FROM VOYAGE PITTORESQUE DES ISLES DE SICILE, DE MALTE ET DE LIPARICirca 1782 Sepia etching depicts the interior colonnade of the ancient Doric temple at Segesta, Sicily. The composition draws the eye down the towering, weathered columns toward the temple's far pediment, with small figures of travelers and horsemen in 18th-century dress scattered among the ruins, lending scale and a picturesque, romantic sensibility to the ancient architecture. The plate is inscribed "Dessine et Grave par J. Houel" and numbered "Pl. L." in the upper right. The work was created by the French painter and printmaker Jean-Pierre-Louis-Laurent Houel (1735–1813) and published as part of his celebrated four-volume Voyage Pittoresque des Isles de Sicile, de Malte et de Lipari (1782), an ambitious illustrated travel account documenting the landscapes, antiquities, and customs of Sicily, Malta, and the Aeolian Islands, based on Houel's own extensive travels through the region in the 1770s. 10 x 14 inches; frame: 16 x 21 inches $150-250
