The ancient city of Baalbek (located in the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon) has a number of well-preserved temples including this complex and distinctive structure. The most unusual feature of this circular temple is the ‘scalloped’ entablature which differs from more conventional Roman circular peripteral temples such as the Temple of Vesta at Tivoli (see model MR13). Four of the Corinthian columns that support this entablature, at the rear of the Temple, are also unusual in having five-sided bases and capitals. The cella of the Temple was approached through a porch (some modern reconstructions show this with a triangular gable like the porch of a longitudinally planned peripteral temple).

Fouquet has based this very detailed reconstruction on Plates IV-VI, Vol. II, from Louis Cassas’ Voyage pittoresqque de la Syrie, de la Phoenicie, de la Palestine et de la Basse Aegypte which illustrated the unusual features of the structure. Fouquet has even modelled the minute Ionic capitals of the pilasters that flank the aedicules or niches containing statues that adorn the exterior of the Temple’s circular cella. However, the statues adorning the model’s entablature and the pinecone finial surmounting the dome of the Temple seem to be inventions by Fouquet and have no basis in Cassas’ reconstruction or from what we know through archaeological investigation of the building.

The ‘Baroque’ nature of the architecture of this temple was influential during the 18th century, many architects using its unusual and decorative forms in their work.

Sir John Soane purchased the twenty models by François Fouquet in 1834 from the architect Edward Cresy (1792-1858) who, from 1829 to 1835, worked in Paris. Soane paid Cresy the substantial sum of £100 (£10,136.78 in today’s money). It is likely that Cresy purchased the models directly from Fouquet et Fils.

Wonders of the Ancient World: François Fouquet's Model Masterpieces, Sir John Soane's Museum, London, 15 July - 22 November 2011