Plate (from the "Vues Diverses" service)
The painted scene illustrates a combat near the ruined tombs of Baalbek in the mountains of Syria. The scene was adapted by Le Bel from a drawing by the peripatetic Louis-Francois Cassas (1756–1827), whose travels took him from northern Europe to Istria, Constantinople, Asia Minor, and Egypt. Cassas spent nearly a month in Baalbek in 1785, and his views were etched and engraved for his "Voyage Pittoresque de la Syrie," published in 1799. Our plate comes from a set of "vues diverses "and is one of only two in the series to depict a scene outside France. The service was begun during the Napoleonic period but was completed in 1816, when it was delivered to Louis XVIII.
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