Palestine - Restauration du Tombeau de Josaphat (Plate 32) (Restoration of the Tomb of Jehoshaphat)

Description

This engraving is a reconstruction drawing of the monument known as the Tomb of Jehoshaphat. In reality, the rock-cut tomb in the Kidron Valley, popularly attributed to Jehoshaphat, has a plain façade, and the monumental sculptural groups and rich ornamentation seen in this engraving are absent from the existing structure. Consequently, this engraving represents one of the idealized interpretations of ancient Jerusalem tombs by 19th-century European archaeologists and artists. The row of four figurative statues in the upper section references the tradition of monumental superstructures in Roman and Late Hellenistic funerary architecture. However, no such figurative sculptures are found on actual tomb monuments in the Kidron Valley. The artist's aim is to reconstruct the original form of the existing structure "as it might have been," in other words, to present an archaeological hypothesis. This approach is typical of the early 19th-century trend toward "archaeological reconstruction." The triangular pediment, volute decorations and vegetal friezes seen in the middle section of the engraving reflect the aesthetic elements of the Herodian period and Hellenistic Jerusalem funerary art.The geometric ornamentation and rows of rosettes beneath the pediment are consistent with the decorative repertoire seen in aristocratic tombs from the Second Temple period in Jerusalem. The dark rectangular area below represents the surviving entrance to the actual tomb in the Kidron Valley, while the decorations painted on it and the sculptures added to the upper section create a completely idealized superstructure. Thus, the engraving presents a two-layered visual narrative composed of both existing architectural reality and the artist's interpretation of ancient Jerusalem.