Giovanni Battista Belzoni. (Plate 37 Temple at Erments) London: John Murray, 1822. $695.00

“The Temple at Erments”

From a rare set of prints issued to accompany Giovanni Belzoni’s Narrative, a popular work that described his experiences and discoveries in Egypt and Nubia. Belzoni, an extraordinarily tall ginger headed pantomime player and strongman, was also a hydraulic engineer. He traveled to Cairo in 1816 to interest Mohammed Ali in a hydraulic lifting device he had invented. Unsuccessful in this venture, Belzoni turned to the British Consul Henry Salt for possible employment. Salt was having difficulty removing and shipping the head and shoulders of a colossal statue from Thebes to England, hired Belzoni for this job, and Belzoni completed the task quickly. Belzoni then turned to archeological explorations in the Thebes area and thus began the events which were to lead to his great fame.

Belzoni was the first to perform large scale excavations in the Valley of the Kings, where he discovered many tombs. Belzoni’s enthusiasm and energy allowed him to achieve much. The methods of modern archeology had not yet evolved so Belzoni did some shocking things, such as smashing through sealed doors with a battering ram. Belzoni approached his explorations with a rigorous attitude. He mounted his excavations on a massive scale, and he was highly systematic in his approach. After leaving Egypt I 1819, Belzoni published his famous Narrative, a work that excited huge interest. In 1822, the atlas of prints to accompany this work was issued, containing many lovely scenes and brilliant renderings of the tomb paintings that Belzoni discovered. Such was the impact of Belzoni’s publicizing of these discoveries, that this can be seen as the beginning of the popular fascination with Egypt. The views are finely rendered and show us Egypt before too much was dug up and shipped off to Europe. These prints are both aesthetically decorative and historically significant.

Lithograph with full original color on watermarked Whatman paper 1821  
17.5 x 22 inches sheet.
Very good condition.