Comments on: Egyptian Objects Before Egyptology: Discoveries in the Wilbour Library

By: Deirdre

Deirdre — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 15:25:36 +0000

Thanks Tim. Good to hear from you. Tell us about your new book which is inspired by Egypt? We enjoyed your previous exhibition and are always interested in a contemporary artists’ look at the ancient world. Deirdre

By: timothy hull

timothy hull — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 15:23:45 +0000

wow! gorgeous drawings!

By: bette neuman

bette neuman — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 22:32:48 +0000

So helpful to have an historical context for the drawings. The back story to this kind of work is very rarely available to us and does enrich our understanding of them!

By: Deirdre

Deirdre — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 17:42:18 +0000

Thank you for your comment on museum experts making connections. Having the capability to blog about objects opens up the door to researchers to view and comment easily. This is a neat way to gather both historical and contemporary data together and to shine a light on “hidden” collections especially those held in museum libraries and archives.

By: Tom Hardwick

Tom Hardwick — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 17:16:48 +0000

Glad you like the piece.

Clem, the throne is indeed all-Egyptian. Lions are an enduring part of royal / divine iconographies, however – British monarchs are still crowned in Westminster Abbey seated on this chair, which is supported by some rather odd looking Gothic lions:

http://www.victorianweb.org/art/architecture/feist/17.html

By: M. Ustelje

M. Ustelje — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 15:00:48 +0000

Fascinating research! It’s so impressive, when experts make connections like that. It’s one of the things I like best about museums.

I love the way the artist “translated” the Egyptian figure into his 18th-century idiom. It has an air of intimacy and playfulness, like in Boucher, which couldn’t be present in the statue. You can easily imagine him sitting like that while looking at himself in a mirror that’s on top of a little Rococo table.

By: Clem Labine

Clem Labine — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 21:13:26 +0000

The drawing is indeed a fascinating glimpse of cultural crossover. The basic iconography of the chair seems Egyptian (at least to my eye) while the figure has the soft naturalistic lines of a European Renaissance putto.