In 1846, Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, who was then all-powerful as our ambassador at Constantinople, obtained from the Porte a firman for the removal of certain bassi-rilievi which had been built into the walls of the Castle of Budrum, the ancient Halicarnassus. These arrived in England in due course, and were at once admitted to be fragments of the sculpture of the Mausoleum, as it had been previously assumed that they were. But their beauty only served further to increase the regret that all traces of the building to which they once belonged should have been, as it then appeared, for ever lost.
While things were in this very unsatisfactory position, the public heard with no small degree of interest that Mr. Charles Newton, formerly one of the officers of the British Museum, and then Vice-Consul at Mitylene, had not only discovered the true site of the Mausoleum on a spot formerly indicated by Professor Donaldson, but had found considerable remains of the long-lost building.
Public attention was still further attracted to the subject when it was announced that the British Government had fitted out an extensive expedition, to continue the explorations commenced by Mr. Newton at Budrum and its neighbourhood. From the time that the expeditionary force commenced its labours in October, 1856, till it was broken up nearly three years afterwards, in June, 1859, occasional paragraphs kept up the interest in its proceedings, and latterly the arrival of the marbles themselves excited expectation to the highest pitch. Everything seemed to shadow forth a most brilliant success; and, from the high character which Mr. Newton bore as a Greek scholar, and a thoroughly educated archæologist, all the Hellenist public rejoiced that an expedition fitted out on so liberal a scale, and for so desirable an object, had fallen into what all then believed to be such competent hands.
The first published results were not encouraging. They took the form of Papers presented to Parliament, and published as a Blue Book in 1858, and a second series entitled “Further Papers relating to the Excavations at Budrum and Cnidus, presented in August, 1859.”
The diagrams of the Mausoleum which accompanied these Papers seemed only sufficient to prove one of two things;—either that the explorations had not resulted in the discovery of a sufficient quantity of architectural forms to enable a satisfactory restoration to be made, or that those who conducted the expedition were not sufficiently versed in the art of putting together architectural fragments to be able to avail themselves of the information that had been obtained.
The whole results of the expedition were at last laid before the public in February last, in a folio volume of plates accompanied by a volume of text in 8vo. by Mr. Newton. This work contains, among other things, an elaborate restoration of the Mausoleum by Mr. Pullan, an architect who was sent out by the Trustees of the British Museum to join the expedition during the continuance of its labours. This restoration, however, turns out on examination to be less satisfactory than those previously published by Lieut. Smith in the parliamentary papers above alluded to, either as a specimen of Greek art or as a solution of the difficulties inherent in the problem of reconciling the recent discoveries with the ancient descriptions of the building. It is also unfortunate that—owing probably to their author being absent from the country—the purely architectural plates are so incorrectly drawn or engraved as to add considerably to the previously existing difficulties of the question. It is likewise to be regretted that, for some reason which is not explained, all the best things are omitted from the collection. The statue of Mausolus is not there, nor that of the Goddess which accompanied the chariot. The Horses of the Chariot are also omitted; so is the Torso of the prancing Amazon, the finest thing found; so are the Castle bassi-rilievi, and the really fine Lions. There are, in fact, materials left out sufficient to fill, if not so large a volume as the present, at least one of a far higher class. Notwithstanding these difficulties and defects, there appear to be sufficient materials now before the public to effect a restoration of the building, and as almost all that was discovered on the spot is now in the British Museum, a reference to them enables us to correct or verify what has been published. Under these circumstances I have not hesitated to make the attempt. With what success I must leave it to others to judge after a perusal of the contents of the following pages.