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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Eighteen: Light and Landscape – combining personal vision with nature’s gifts > A city unearthed, Miletus, Turkey, 2011
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23-NOV-2011

A city unearthed, Miletus, Turkey, 2011

Miletus, a relatively obscure archeological site, was the greatest and wealthiest Greek city before the Persians occupied it in the middle of the 6th century BC. It is regarded as the birthplace of Western philosophy and science – where philosophers first began to speculate about naturalistic, rather than supernatural, reasons for how the world works. Today Miletus is a picturesque ruin, in every sense of those words. I interpret Miletus here as it might appear in a 19th century romantic painting – brushed with mist, and bathed in a soft nostalgic light. I reduced the color intensity somewhat to create this effect. I carry the eye forward through a foreground layer strewn with overgrown foundations, leading to a shell of an ancient structure, and finally letting it come rest in a hazy, pastoral background. I thought it an appropriate rendering for a place known for its philosophers and their ideas.

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Phil Douglis09-Feb-2012 23:06
Thanks, Iris, for noting the idealized romantic elements here. All I needed were some oils and a canvas, and a bit of talent as a painter, and I could have made my mark on history here.
Iris Maybloom (irislm)08-Feb-2012 03:53
It does indeed have all the elements of a 19th Century Romantic painting and is the perfect rendering for this particular scene.
Phil Douglis02-Jan-2012 19:47
Yes -- the buildings do seem to glow. It is the caused by the contrast between the lighted and shadowed areas of the arches and doors.
Tim May01-Jan-2012 23:28
Added to the attempt to recreate the birth of naturalism is the glow that comes from the light in the heart of the buildings, like the light of philosophy.
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