Artists and Engineers at Work
The engineers and artists of the Commission of Sciences and Arts appear frequently in the views of antiquities that were published in the Description de l'Égypte. In this detail from a much wider view, several artists can be seen, leaning over their sketching tables, drawing the Kiosk of Trajan on the isle of Philae. Vivant Denon so loved this monument that he wanted to take it back to France. Image source: Napoleon I, (Edme-François) Jomard, and Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Fourier. Description de l’Egypte: ou, Recueil des observations et des recherches qui ont été faites en Egypte pendant l’expédition de l’armee Française. Antiquités planches, vol. 1, A Paris: De L’Imprimerie impériale, 1809-1828, pl. 25.
The Commission made a careful survey of Antinoë, which was built by the Emperor Hadrian in memory of Antinous, who drowned himself on this spot. One of the engineers holds a surveyor’s rod, which was used to measure off distances. Image source: Napoleon I, (Edme-François) Jomard, and Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Fourier. Description de l’Egypte: ou, Recueil des observations et des recherches qui ont été faites en Egypte pendant l’expédition de l’armee Française. Antiquités planches, vol. 4, A Paris: De L’Imprimerie impériale, 1809-1828, pl. 54.