Travels in Upper and Lower Egypt
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"As early as Napoleon's campaigns into Egypt the Orient fascinated Europe. It was Vivant Denon's Travels in Upper and Lower Egypt that would kick start Egyptomania." --Sholem Stein |
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Voyage dans la Basse et la Haute Égypte (Eng: Travels in Upper and Lower Egypt) is a book by Dominique Vivant published in 1802, translated in English as Travels in Upper and Lower Egypt in 1803.
At Napoleon's invitation Dominique Vivant joined the French campaign in Egypt and Syria as part of the arts and literature section of the Institut d'Égypte, and thus found the opportunity of gathering the materials for his most important literary and artistic work. He accompanied general Louis Desaix to Upper Egypt, and made numerous sketches of the monuments of ancient art, sometimes under the very fire of the enemy.
The results were published in this book and published as two volumes in 1802. The work crowned his reputation both as an archaeologist and as an artist, and sparked the Egyptian Revival in architecture and decorative arts.
The book also featured the first drawing of the Zodiac. Since the zodiac was on the ceiling of a dark chapel, he had to lie on his back and draw by candlelight.
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