Piet de Jong (artist)

Piet Christiaan Leonardus de Jong (8 August 1887 – 20 April 1967) was an artist who worked on the illustration and reconstruction of archaeological sites in the Mediterranean, including Mycenae, Knossos, Eutresis, Gordion, and the Athenian Agora.

In 1912, Piet de Jong received the Soane Medallion which included a travel award of £50 from the Royal Institute of British Architects.

[citation needed] Piet de Jong first travelled to Greece in 1919 as part of the post-war reconstruction programme for eastern Macedonia.

[citation needed] From the 1920s to the 1950s, de Jong applied his skills as architect and artist to the illustration, recording, and reconstruction of some of the most famous excavations in Mediterranean archaeology.

[2] Unlike Fyfe and Doll, de Jong was the first Knossos architect who lived in Greece year round.

Many of the publications of archaeological finds produced by the British School during this period include plans, plates, and drawings by de Jong.

Until 1965, de Jong worked again for Carl Blegen at Pylos, where he produced his famous reconstructions of both the Palace of Nestor and its ornate floor.

A bequest left by de Jong to the British School at Athens made possible the extension of the Stratigraphic Museum at Knossos.

Watercolours, both translucent and opaque (gouache), on paper, were de Jong's preferred medium for the execution of archaeological illustrations.

In addition, de Jong did not produce a style of documentation which would be considered sufficient for modern, quantitative, standards of archaeological recording.

In contrast, de Jong's illustrations do not include a section and elevation, but rather tend to depict the entire outside profile of the vessel, often from a distorted perspective, to make as many of the object's defining attributes visible to the viewer as possible.

In his will, de Jong bequeathed his personal caricatures and other watercolours to Minoan archaeologist Sinclair Hood; these artworks have been held in the archives of the Knossos Trust since 1990.