Girgenti (The Temple of Juno Lacinia at Agrigentum)

Art Historical Context

William Stanley Haseltine’s 1881 watercolor captures the weathered columns of the Temple of Juno Lacinia, one of the best-preserved Doric temples at Agrigento (then called Girgenti) in Sicily. An American artist trained in Düsseldorf and deeply influenced by the Hudson River School, Haseltine frequently traveled to Italy in the later decades of his career, recording its ancient sites with a luminous, topographically precise eye. The ruined temple, silhouetted against the Sicilian landscape, embodies the nineteenth-century fascination with classical antiquity as both romantic relic and enduring symbol of cultural continuity. Haseltine executed the view on blue paper using watercolor, gouache, and graphite, a combination that allowed him to exploit the paper’s cool tone for shadows while building luminous highlights with opaque white. This mixed-media approach, popular among American and British artists of the period, lent the scene a remarkable sense of atmospheric depth and tactile stone. The resulting work balances archaeological accuracy with poetic atmosphere, inviting viewers to contemplate the passage of time across Mediterranean civilizations. Acquired by the Metropolitan Museum in 1994, the sheet now resides in the American Wing, underscoring the international scope of nineteenth-century American landscape painting and the era’s enduring dialogue with classical heritage.

About the Artist

William Stanley Haseltine · 1835–1900

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