Early French Exploration of Egyptian Design
From Rome to Napoleon, France's Flirtation With Egypt's Aesthetic
Oct 17, 2009
As far back as the Roman era in Europe, Egypt’s exotic charms travelled northward inspiring art and culture. According to James Stevens Curl’s The Egyptian Revival, as geographically close to France as Ostia, Italy, remains of temples to Isis have been found.
Crusaders and Popes Acquire Ancient Artifacts
The Catholic French were quite familiar with biblical textural descriptions of this ancient land. Crusaders visited Salah ah-Din’s (1173 - 1193) Citadel in Cairo and viewed the pyramids from the top of Sultan Hassan’s Mosque built in the 1300’s. Authors of The Discovery of Egypt show how treaties established by French King Francis I (1494 - 1597) opened small-scale colonization and trade, expanding France’s interests and connections with Egypt.
Renaissance Quest for Antiquities
Renaissance interest in antiquities promoted copying ancient Greek, Roman and Egyptian pieces. The French began to integrate Egyptian aesthetics and designs into decorative objects and furniture, albeit in a derivative and highly altered manner. These pieces sometimes resulted in decorative choices that would never have come together in an earlier time but suited the eclectic tastes of the period and were limited to an elite clientele.
During the 1600’s an appreciation for integrating obelisks and statuary into prominent public spaces, as many plazas had in Rome, became popular. Original and reproduced Egyptian artifacts were placed in the gardens of Vaux-le-Vicomte (1657 – 61) and Versailles (1661 – 1750). France’s Sun King, Louis XIV (1643 - 1715), supported the establishment of the French Academy in Rome by Jean-Baptiste Colbert (1619 - 83) in order to record and expand interest in the antiquities, particularly those of Egypt.
The Grand Tour
Although a few mummies and artifacts made their way to France in the preceding years, the influence of a directly applied ancient Egyptian aesthetic did not trickle into the Parisian consciousness until the 1700s with the publication of several travel journals by early adventurers. Their followers, generally members of the upper class, used these journals to cap off their university educations with a grand tour of important historical sites.
Frederick Norden’s Travels in 1751 and two French publications; Constantin François de Chasseboeuf Volney’s Voyages en Syrie et en Egypte in 1789 and Claude Etienne Savary’s Lettres sur l’Egypte in 1785 were each influential. The most popular was Reverend Richard Pococke’s journal, whose detailed architectural account of Egyptian antiquity used by the new republic of France’s military and scientific expedition.
A Folly by any Other Name
Garden design reached a pinnacle in the Baroque and Rococo periods with the inclusion of architectural garden follies. In Pleasure Pavilions and Follies, coauthored by Dams and Zega, pyramid shaped follies of Masonic Order member Marquis de Montesquiou and François de Monville reflect both their personal interests as well as their architects. At the Élysée garden of Château de Mauperthuis, architect Alexandre-Théodore Brongniart integrated Masonic symbols with Egyptian motifs.
Napoleon and the Egyptian Campaign
Ultimately, it would be Napoleon’s extraordinary propaganda machine of 167 artists, writers and scientists used during the Egyptian Campaign expedition (1798 – 1801) to solidify France’s aesthetic relationship with the art of ancient Egypt. Their presses portraying the wonders of Egypt ignited imaginations worldwide. Although the sands of time may still cover much of this ancient civilization, but its beauty continues to shine through the centuries.
Sources
Beaucour, Fernand; Laissus, Yves; and Orgogozo, Chantal. The Discovery of Egypt: Artists Travellers and Scientists. Paris: Flammarion, 1990.
Curl, James Stevens. The Egyptian Revival. London: Routledge, 2005.
Dams, Bernd H.; and Zega, Andrew. Pleasure Pavilions and Follies In the Gardens of the Ancien Regime. Paris: Flammirion, 1995.
