This monograph joins a number of recent publications that centre on antiquarianism and the archives related to the scholars and their outputs (for example, Crisà Reference Crisà2012 and Crispino and Musumeci Reference Crispino and Musumeci2008). Muscolino's focus is on the painter Giovan Battista Lusieri (?1755–1821), who operated chiefly in Sicily, Greece and Malta during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. While Lusieri's commissions with Lord Elgin (in Athens from 1799 to 1807, despite Elgin's imprisonment in 1803) are already fairly well known, this volume has particular value for the evidence we can draw from the artist's visits to Sicily in 1798–9 and 1807–8. For each, Muscolino draws on the Elgin family archive in Broomhall, Fife, Scotland, and, from Sicily, the Biblioteca Arcivescovile Alagoniana at Syracuse and the Archivio Parrocchiale, Taormina, these featuring many unedited sources such as letters and sketches. Notable is Lusieri's commission as ‘Royal Antiquities Painter’ for work on the Demone and Noto valleys and his relationship with Saverio Landolina, Royal Custodian of the Antiquities in these valleys, who insisted on the painter's return from Athens to complete the project of drawing the antiquities in the valleys. Lusieri often co-ordinated his work with local or commissioned architects: for example, he played a key role during restoration works on the dome of Taormina's cathedral (Chiesa Madre) in 1799, drawing up designs for ‘classical-style’ renovations which were removed in mid-twentieth-century restorations.

The archival materials show troubled times for Lusieri on his return to Sicily in 1807, when the lack of royal licences prevented him from painting images of antiquities or excavation works. Lack of commissions pursued him in Malta and also in Athens in the following years, when even his possessions were locked up. His relationship with Elgin faltered and his letter to Lord Hamilton of 16 August 1819 explained how his projects had failed because of the loss of Elgin's backing. Lusieri died on 1 March 1821.

Muscolino provides a fascinating study of the travels and fate of some of Lusieri's drawings. For example, after a complicated dispute between Elgin and the painter's inheritors, some pictures arrived at Broomhall, while others sank on board the Cambrian in 1828. Some Sicilian images are of value in the detailing of works undertaken, structures now decayed and finds since lost. Many of these are reproduced in fine quality here (pp 65–103): eighteen drawings of Palermo (no. 1), Agrigento (nos 2–5) and Taormina (nos 6–18).

In summary, not only is Muscolino's monograph of value to scholars interested in antiquarianism and in Lord Elgin, but it also discusses methods of archival analysis, Sicily's early archaeology and relationships between artists, scholars and local authorities in the early 1800s. There are intriguing and promising research themes which could be developed further, especially concerning the understanding of how Sicilian antiquaries and painters operated elsewhere in Europe and their contacts with foreign colleagues.