Image Gallery - Napoleon and the Scientific Expedition to Egypt

Artists and Engineers at Work
Image Gallery - Click on the images below to enlarge


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. From the Description de l'Égypte Antiquités.


Medinet Habu is across the Nile from Thebes, near the Valley of the Kings. In this detail of the temple interior, two French engineers can be seen at the left, one holding a portfolio of drawings under his arm. From the Description de l'Égypte Antiquités.		The engineers often traveled from site to site on feluccas, the traditional Egyptian sailing vessel of the Nile. Here they are leaving the rock tombs at Silsilis, just south of Edfu, in Upper Egypt. From the Description de l'Égypte Antiquités.


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. From the Description de l'Égypte Antiquités.

This exhibition is made possible with the generous support of the J.E. Dunn Construction Company.

Image Gallery Selections