Fishing boat at Kassiopi, with, in the distance, the town of Sarande and snow capped mountains of Albania in the distance 'each wearing its cracked crown of snow, desolate and repudiating stone" as described by Lawrence Durrell in his book on Corfu titled "Prospero's Cell" .
Mount Parnassus across the Gulf of Corinth from Diakopto.
View from Corfu Old Town, looking north from the battlements of the Palace of St. Michael, residence of the Lord High Commissioner of the United States of the Ionian Islands during the British occupation, 1815-1864.
Photo of Corfu Town in the 1920's. Ahead is the remains of Corfu Castle, built during the Venetian Occupation [1386-1797, levelled during the British Occupation, [1815-64]
Same view February 2018, on the left is the columned Maitland Monument, built to commemorate the life of Sir Thomas Maitland, first Lord High Commissioner. The style is somewhat based on a meeting between the Temple of Hercules Victor in Rome [2 nd.bc] and Tempietto by Bramante in Rome [1502 ad]
The Castle by John Singer Sargent, painted in 1909
Same view in 2018.
A mid 19 th. century print of Corfu Castle or Fortress, the Maitland Monument and the Spianada, the parade ground built by the British and now includes the famous cricket ground.
The beach at Ermones, Corfu, where, it is thought, Odysseus met Nausica, daughter of Alcinous King of the Phaeacians. He, naked, had been washed up on a beach after escaping from the nymph Calipso in her island of Ogygia and having his raft wrecked by Poseidon. Source; Odyssey by Homer
The painting of the event by William McGregor Paxton [1896-1941] titled "Odysseus and Nausica". The cafe on the beach is called "Taverna Nausica, Corfu Specialities". Historical topographic fidelity!
A competing site; The Bay of Paleokastritsa.
Painting by Pieter Lastman 'Odysseus and Nausicaa". The character Fielding Grey in Simon Raven"s Book "Come Like Shadows' set in Corfu , uses this story in an attempt to seduce a young actress.
The Story of Nausicaa and Ulysses is a popular subject for artists, her by Joachim von Sandrart [1606-1688]
by Thomas van Balen and Jan Brueghel the Elder.
By Thomas de Keyser. See The Eclectic Light company site 'The Story in Painting: Nausicca, Boy meets girl and more"
Charming painting of Josephine with Napoleon around her little finger. Seen in a bar on the Liston Arcade in Corfu Town. Designed by the French whilst they occupied Corfu from 1794 to 1814, and based on the Rue de Rivoli in Paris.
A mortar in Corfu Town being inspected by Christopher Whittick. It was cast at a furnace in Brede, East Sussex, by the Ironmaster Thomas Western [1624-1707] He operated the furnace from 1660 to 1690's when he passed it onto his son. He was one of the richest persons in England, ever. Worth £200,000 in 1707.
Detail of the mortar, note date and initials on Thomas Western. The mortar was sold the the Venetians to protect Corfu from the Ottomans. It could have been used in the failed Turkish siege of 1716. The venetian forces were led by Marshal Schulenburg.
View of the site of the furnace at Brede, the field was littered with furnace slag and fragments of moulds.
An example of the slag.
Members of the Corfu Expedition, from the left Peter Mackenzie Smith and Christopher Whittick.
Fragment of an iron casting , possibly a barrel, found on site. Source; The Wealden Iron Industry by Jeremy Hodgkinson.
Peter with an mortar exported to the Venetian Republic in 1684 from the same foundry
It was presented to the Tower of London by the Ionian Government in 1842, which was under British rule.
Ionian innings; a cricket match at the Corfu garrison, 1853
Cricket on the Esplanade with the fortress in the background.
The cricket pitch in February 2018, with the Palace of St. Michael behind
