Description de l'Egypte -
From the ‘Description of Egypt’ -
54 x 71cm
1809 -
This engraving, plate 33, from volume one of the book
'Modern State' from the 11 volumes that made up the 'Description de l'Egypte' shows
Napoleon and a group of members of the 'Institute of Egypt' in the house of Hassan
Kachef. Hassan Kachef was one of the Mamelukes who fled with Murad Bey into Upper
Egypt after Napoleon's victory at the battle of the Pyramids in 1798. His house was
commandeered by the French and occupied by the 'Institute de l'Egypte', which had
been created by decree on the 22 August 1798. The Institute's president was Gaspard
Monge, seen here welcoming the vice-
The 'Description de l'Égypte' was a series
of publications, appearing first in 1809 and continuing until the final volume appeared
in 1829, which offered a comprehensive scientific description of ancient and modern
Egypt as well as its natural history. It is the collaborative work of about 160 civilian
scholars and scientists, known popularly as the savants, who accompanied Napoleon's
expedition to Egypt in 1798 to 1801 as part of the French Revolutionary Wars, as
well as about 2000 artists and technicians, including 400 engravers, who would later
compile it into a full work. The first edition usually consists of nine volumes of
text, one volume with description of the plates and ten volumes of plates. Two additional
volumes in Mammut size (also called Elephant plates) contain plates from Antiquites
and Etat Moderne and finally one volume of map plates (Atlas), making for twenty-