Degree
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
History
Document Type
Dissertation
Abstract
This dissertation examines the seizure and acquisition of Egyptian antiquities by the French government between 1792 and 1822. During this period, the French government seized antiquities for a variety of reasons, not the least of which was to benefit the French people politically and financially and to support the French ideals of art and civilization. Egyptian antiquities were collected almost accidentally, as French armies confiscated the collections of the wealthy in Paris and the aristocratic collections in Italy. But the presence of the art prompted the curiosity of the French, which led to a greater interest in Egyptian antiquities. However, French antiquarians could not read the Egyptian hieroglyphic script, so they substituted meanings they understood from European sources, such as those found in the words of Greek historians, Roman authors, Renaissance scholars, European Isis and Osiris cults, and the Bible. Without the understanding of scholars as to what the symbolism meant, French scholars associated the art to their own national pride as the heir to the Greek and Roman civilizations, to the concepts of the French Revolution, and to the reputation of Napoleon Bonaparte as conqueror after the success in the Italian invasion and in the scholarship resulting from the Egyptian Expedition. These acquisitions stimulated new European competition for the collection of Egyptian art but did not result in any close study of the antiquities themselves, many of which disappeared into private collections, such as those of Joséphine de Beauharnais and her friends, Vivant Denon and Alexandre Lenoir.
The seizure of these antiquities contributed both positively and negatively to the beginnings of Egyptology in France. On the one hand, new interest in things Egyptian arose in France and elsewhere by the presence of the antiquities in public museums. This interest resulted in an increase in the value of antiquities, leading individuals like Antoine Hamelin and others to acquire antiquities in Egypt. But the mass seizure of Egyptian art by the French during this period resulted in the misidentification of the art and some of these antiquities remain not adequately identified to this day.
Date
3-26-2026
Recommended Citation
Dow, Anna E., "Acquiring Egypt: Napoleon, Joséphine, and the Formation of France’s Collections of Egyptian Antiquities, 1792-1822" (2026). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 7052.
https://repository.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/7052
Committee Chair
Marchand, Suzanne
LSU Acknowledgement
1
LSU Accessibility Acknowledgment
1
Included in
Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque Art and Architecture Commons, European History Commons