Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 11.djvu/202

 first sailed for Constantinople, leaving London with despatches entrusted to him by Mr. William R. Hamilton, F.R.S., then under-secretary for foreign affairs. Three months later he left for Athens, where he spent the winter in the company of several distinguished men, among whom was Lord Byron. In the month of April 1811, accompanied by Baron Haller von Hallerstein, architect to the king of Bavaria, Mr. Foster, architect, of Liverpool, Mr. Linckh of Würtemberg, and Baron Stackelberg of Esthonia, Cockerell proceeded to Ægina,, where the celebrated remains of the so-called temple of Jupiter Panhellenius were discovered. This discovery was followed by that of the reliefs forming the frieze of the temple of Apollo Epicurius near the ancient Phigaleia in Arcadia in 1812. These reliefs were purchased in 1813 by the English government for the sum of sixty thousand dollars, and they now form one of the chief ornaments of the British Museum. No sooner were the Ægina marbles found than information was sent to the British ambassador at the Porte, and also to the British government at home through Mr. Hamilton. Shortly afterwards Messrs. Gaily Knight and Fazakerly offered a sum of 2,000l. to the two German co-proprietors to relinquish their shares, engaging, together with the English proprietors, Messrs. Foster and Cockerell, to present the whole collection to the British Museum. These terms, however, were declined on the part of Baron Haller and Mr. Linckh, from a desire to secure the marbles for their own countrymen. Advertisements were accordingly inserted in the Gazette of every country in Europe, announcing the sale at Zante, and Mr. Gropius, Austrian consul there, was appointed to act as agent in the business. At the instance of Mr. Hamilton, H.M.S. Paulina was sent out, under Captain Perceval, with a most liberal offer for the immediate purchase. The engagement already entered into with the public made it impossible to accept the offer, but still, under the apprehension of a French attack, the proprietors removed the marbles to Malta. But no announcement was made in the 'Gazette' by the agent, Mr. Gropius. The English authorities despatched Mr. Taylor Combe to bid on their behalf. Meanwhile the sale took place at Zante, and the marbles were purchased without opposition by the crown prince of Bavaria. These antiquities are now at Munich. In 1811 Cockerell started for a tour through the country of the 'seven churches,' and cruised along the coasts of Ionia, Lycia, Cilicia, Karamania ,and southern shore of Asia Minor. It was in the spring of 1812 that he met at Adalia, and afterwards joined, Sir Francis Beaufort [q. v.], who commanded H.M.S. Frederiksteen. In his book entitled 'Karamania, or a Brief Description of the South Coast of Asia Minor,' &c., London, 1818, 8vo, p. 113, Beaufort tells us : ' We had the satisfaction of meeting here (Adalia) with Mr. Cockerell, who had been induced by our report to explore the antiquities of these desolate regions. He had hired a small Greek vessel at Athens, and crossing the Archipelago had already coasted part of Lycia. Those who have experienced the filth and other miseries of such a mode of conveyance, and who know the dangers that await an unprotected European among the tribes of uncivilised Mahommedans, can alone appreciate the ardour which could lead to such an enterprise. I succeeded in persuading him to remove to his majesty's ship.' Cockerell afterwards proceeded to Sicily. The principal scenes of his labours in this island were Syracuse and Girgenti. At Syracuse, according to his journals, he resided about three months, studying and measuring the ancient Greek fortifications ; and at Girgenti collecting materials for his restoration of the temple of Jupiter Olympius, commonly called the Temple of the Giants, and which ranks after that of Diana at Ephesus among the temples of ancient Greece. The results of his researches were afterwards published in the supplementary volume to the second edition of Stuart's Athens ' in 1830. In 1813, on returning to Greece, Cockerell visited the north of the Peloponnesus, Argos, Orchomenos, Sicyon, Corinth, and other places. In the same year he went to Candia, and towards the end of 1814 to Italy. During the following year he visited Naples and Pompeii, passing the winter of 1815-16 in Rome, where he formed a lasting friendship with the French painter Ingres, by whom there exists a masterly portrait of the young architect. The spring of 1816 he spent in Florence, and conceived the pedimental disposition of the Niobe group, of which he etched a plate, accompanied by some letterpress descriptions written in Italian, addressed to the 'Cav* Bartholdy,' and signed thus : 'C. R. Cockerell, archi* inglese, inventò e incise, 1816.' A copy of this scarce work is in the library of the British Museum, with the following manuscript title : 'Congettura del Signor Cockerell sopra la Famiglia di Niobe.' The autumn he passed in Lombardy and Parma, returning home in 1817. About this period he etched another plate, representing a view of Athens, &c. On arriving in London Cockerell commenced business on his own account in Savile Row, and his name first