4. KARL ROSS (1816-1858) Cape Sounion Signed C. Ross (lower left), signed, titled and inscribed 'Scizze zu einem grossem Gemälde / Cap Sunium. C. Ross' (on the stretcher) oil on canvas 23.5 x 34cm (9.25 x 13.39 in.) Oil on canvas Literature H. Gramm-Lausen, Charles Ross 1816-1858. Ein Landschaftsmaler des 19. Jahrhunderts, Verlag Ludwigeditions, Kiel 2000, pp. 102-103 Born in Ruhwinkel, Germany, Karl (Charles) Ross studied painting at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. In 1937 he visited Greece at the invitation of his elder brother Ludwig who was then head of the Greek Archaeological Service and inaugural Professor of Archaeology at the University of Athens. In 1837-1839, he travelled extensively throughout Greece with his brother and other central European expatriates including Ernst Curtius, the future excavator of Olympia. Just before leaving Greece in 1939, he visited the Temple of Poseidon in Cape Sounion, approaching it from the sea on a stormy night. The moonlit ancient monument, perched on the steep coastal cliffs, made a great impression on him and ten years later he was commissioned by a German collector to paint a large-scale painting on the subject.