“Part of lion-headed statue, Karnak Temple complex”
At the very end of the eighteenth century, Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Egypt in an event that was known as the ‘Napoleonic Expedition’. This drawing of Sekhmet, a goddess from Egyptian mythology, is from that expedition.
“Part of lion-headed statue, Karnak Temple complex” is a pen and ink wash on paper drawing by the French architect and draftsman, Charles-Louis Balzac, from circa 1798 to 1801. The Karnak Temple Complex is an architectural complex of temple ruins just north of Luxor, Egypt. It contains over 200 structures. Balzac worked in Karnak under the supervision of the French archaeologist, Vivant Denon, who afterwards became the first director at the Louvre. He was tasked to document various objects and places they encountered. This piece was engraved by the French-Dutch publisher, Abraham Jacobsz Hulk.
This drawing and the subject itself are both amazing works of art. The original statue was made of black granite. It was located in the southern enclosure at Karnak, at the Mut Temple. This piece depicts Sekhmet, both a warrior goddess and the goddess of healing in ancient Egyptian mythology. She was the wife of the god Ptah, who was the patron saint of craftsmen.
As a warrior goddess, Sekhmet could bring on destruction and was thought to be able to deliver plague and pestilence to enemies. As a goddess of healing, she would use amulets, spells, and incantations to ward off disease. Sekhmet was depicted as a woman with the head of a lioness. She was seen as the protector of the pharaoh and the one that led him into battle and was therefore a dominant figure in ancient Egyptian culture. Pharaoh Amenhotep III collected statues of Sekhmet to garner her protection.
Napoleon Bonaparte, inspired by Alexander the Great, attempted to take over Egypt in an attempt to gain control over the land route to India. He wanted to add Egypt to the French Empire to increase France’s power while hurting Great Britain’s economy. In 1798, he set out for Egypt with over 55,000 soldiers and 400 ships. As Napoleon had recently been elected to the French Academy of Sciences, he also wanted to document the historic and natural environment of Egypt while finding ways to improve the standard of living. This was the expedition that recovered the Rosetta Stone, which allowed researchers to be able to read the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, a skill that was lost before the fall of the Roman Empire.
Soon after, however, Napoleon’s power quickly fell and his team of experts were left to fend for themselves, often falling under the scorn of the army who thought of them as a nuisance. Despite the lack of resources, help, and dignity they received, they arduously documented every detail of everyday life and historic architecture. After years of being abandoned and some deaths, they finally found a boat ride home.
The French occupation lasted until 1801 when they were ousted from Egypt by the British. The British confiscated the Egyptian items the French were bringing back home but allowed them to keep their research. Though the military campaign was a disaster, the expedition exposed Europeans to Egyptian art and history. They became obsessed with this foreign and exotic land, and Egyptology pervaded their art and culture.
All of the research and drawings from the expedition were published over a 20-year period, starting in 1809, in Description de l’Égypte, which included 23 volumes, ten of which just contained the illustrations. This image of Sekhmet was located in Volume III, Plate 48.
During Balzac’s time in Egypt, he traveled to many famous sites, including Cairo, Luxor, and Giza. He was present and was a witness to the Revolt of Cairo in October 1798, when the Egyptians in Cairo unsuccessfully rose up against the French occupiers.
For more on Charles-Louis Balzac, please visit his short biography here.
You can find more artists to learn about here.
