The Egyptian Revival: Ancient Egypt as the Inspiration for Design Motifs in the West

by Curl; James Stevens

• ISBN13: 9780415361194
• ISBN10: 0415361192
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-11-18
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

This beautifully illustrated, closely argued, pioneering, and definitive magisterial survey spans over two thousand years and analyzes the astonishing and persistent influence that Ancient Egyptian culture has had on the West. Professor Stevens Curl describes in lively and stimulating prose the numerous revivals of the Egyptian style from Antiquity to the present day, drawing on a wealth of sources. The author deftly develops his argument that the civilization of Ancient Egypt is central, rather than peripheral, to the development of much of Western architecture, art, design, and religion. He charts the remarkable persistence of Egyptian motifs in design from Graeco-Roman Antiquity, through the Mediaeval, Baroque, and Neo-Classical periods, and goes on to trace the rise of Egyptology in the nineteenth century, twentieth-century manifestations of Egyptianisms prompted by the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb, and various aspects of Egyptianising tendencies in the Art Deco style and afterwards. For students of art, architectural and ancient history, and those interested in Western European culture generally, this book will be an inspiring and invaluable addition to the available literature.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	x
Foreword by Peter A. Clayton, F S.A.	xviii
Preface
Introduction	xx
The Argument	xxvi
Acknowledgements	xxxi
Chapter I Egypt and Europe	1	(42)
The Idea of Egypt in the European Mind	2	(10)
The Isiac Religion	12	(4)
The Absorption of Egyptian Religion into the Grœco-Roman World	16	(6)
Obelisks	22	(8)
The Isæum Campense	30	(9)
Pyramids	39	(2)
Epilogue	41	(2)
Chapter II Some Manifestations of Egyptianisms from the Time of Trajan to the Early Renaissance Period	43	(66)
Introduction	44	(3)
The Villa Adriana at Tivoli	47	(8)
Egypt, Rome, and the Emperors	55	(5)
The Reality of Egypt in Recession	60	(2)
The Transformation of Isis	62	(11)
The Proto-Revival and the Survival of and Egyptianising Artefacts	73	(36)
Chapter III Further Manifestations with Egyptian Connotations in Europe from the Renaissance to the Beginning of the Eighteenth Century	109	(34)
The Mensa Isiaca	110	(2)
Records and Drawings	112	(4)
Egyptianisms in Design	116	(12)
The Hermetic Tradition	128	(5)
Some Manifestations of Egyptiana	133	(1)
Travellers and Speculators	134	(3)
Bernini	137	(2)
The French Connection	139	(4)
Chapter IV Egyptian Elements in Eighteenth-Century Europe to the Time of Piranesi	143	(28)
Explorers of the Eighteenth Century	144	(2)
Further Baroque Themes	146	(8)
The Search for Stereometrical Purity	154	(1)
The Individual Contribution of Giovanni Battista Piranesi	155	(13)
The Legacy of Piranesi	168	(3)
Chapter V The Egyptian Revival from the Time of Piranesi until the Napoleonic Campaigns in Egypt	171	(32)
Introduction	172	(1)
The Tomb and Egyptianising Forms	172	(21)
Egyptianisms in Design before the Impact of Denon and the Description	193	(7)
The Invasion	200	(3)
Chapter VI The Egyptian Revival after the Napoleonic Campaigns in Egypt	203	(46)
Introduction	204	(1)
Denon	204	(2)
Thomas Hope and the Neo-Classical Use of Egyptianisms	206	(19)
The Description and the Glorification of Napoleon	225	(5)
Freemasonry	230	(4)
Furniture Design, and Other Egyptianising Manifestations	234	(15)
Chapter VII Applications of the Egyptian Style	249	(32)
Introduction: Die Zauberflöte	250	(2)
Stage-Designs and Mozart	252	(8)
The Commercial Picturesque and the Adoption of Egyptian Forms	260	(13)
Other Egyptianising Designs	273	(8)
Chapter VIII The Egyptian Revival in Funerary Architecture	281	(30)
Introduction	282	(1)
Funerary Exemplars	283	(3)
The New Cemeteries	286	(18)
Pugin	304	(2)
Commemorative Egyptianisms	306	(4)
Conclusion	310	(1)
Chapter IX Aspects of the Egyptian Revival in the Later Part of the Nineteenth Century	311	(36)
Introduction	312	(5)
Travellers and Scholars	317	(3)
The Egyptian Revival in the Hands of Serious Egyptologists	320	(14)
The Individual Contribution of Alexander 'Greek' Thomson	334	(7)
The Victorian Vision of Egypt	341	(2)
Eclecticism and Design	343	(4)
Chapter X The Egyptian Revival in the Twentieth Century	347	(50)
Introduction	348	(18)
Egyptianising Architecture from 1900 to 1922	366	(7)
Tutankhamun and Art-Deco	373	(16)
Later Developments	389	(6)
Epilogue	395	(2)
Chapter XI A Postscript	397	(18)
Introduction	398	(2)
The Longevity of Nilotic Themes	400	(11)
Afterword	411	(4)
Select Glossary	415	(56)
Select Bibliography	471	(62)
Index	533