Ralph Willett's description of the missing original oil reads:
' ... it represents the Ruin of the Arts and of Science; the celebrated vain-glorious City, now in the Hands of the Turks, teaches us to bewail the short-lived Excellency of sublunary Fame. The Temple, once the Pride of Athens, affords, in this View, only broken Columns and dismembered Capitals; the Ivy and the Briars almost hide the little Remains of its Wall, and scattered Heaps of truncated Heroes and Pedestals cover the ground; on one of them is still legible [in Greek notation] Andros Athanatou, and is used by a Turk to sit upon while he smoaks his Pipe. A mortifying Lesson to human Vanity! Two curious European Travellers are surveying these Ruins; one of them meditates on the sad Scene before his Eyes; another is addressed by a very picturesque Grecian Girl in white, with a Child at the Breast, who seems soliciting his Charity; a third,who may be the Captain of their Vessel, is looking, with less Curiosity, at the Objects about him. Several Turks are busied in loading Saiques in the Bay; another is employed in breaking to pieces a fine Torso, for the most common Uses, while his Companion sits with stupid Indifference on the Bust of it.
Instead of the Temple is a Turkish Mosque; and instead of the Sacrifice to Minerva, a Turkish Funeral. The Distance across the Bay is made out by the Port of Athens, before which are several Saiques, ruined Temples, &c. and a savage Country. Every Object in this Picture is calculated to impress the Mind with the most awful Reflections on the Decline of Knowledge, and to excite in the Spectator the most resolute Attention to hold fast that large Portion of it, with which Providence and the united Labours of so many excellent Men have enriched us. Long, very long, may the first Picture [P180] be the Picture of Great Britain; and late, if ever, may the second bear the least resemblance to her sinking State! Esto perpetua!'
