Thermae with Piscinae in the neighbourhood of the town of Limassol, the ancient Amathunta in the island of Cyprus, 1792.

The Austro-Italian painter Luigi Mayer was commissioned by his patron Sir Robert Ainslie, British ambassador to the Porte, to travel to the Ottoman dominions and illustrate the beauty of those lands. Ainslie wanted to publish a book with these views. In 1803, a volume appeared published by Robert Bowyer with the title ‘Views in the Ottoman Empire, chiefly in Caramania, a part of Asia hitherto unexplored’. The volume contained two views of Cyprus: ‘Antique fragments at Limisso’ and ‘A colossal vase near Limisso in Cyprus’. Two more watercolours remained unpublished in the hands of Robert Ainslie. The ‘Thermae with Piscinae’, or, as titled in the manuscript, ‘View of ruins on the remains of the temple of Venus and Adonis at Amathus in the island of Cyprus’, portrays the ruins of what used to be the church of St. Tychon. The building, as depicted in the painting, resembles a basilica of the early formative Christian period. Only the costumes allude to the Ottomans here whereas the title refers to Greek mythology. Three Europeans are presumably of the artist’s company. The surrounding is really Greek but Mayer is particularly careful in using only little political commentary in his text and choosing to be mostly descriptive.