Abstract

Ancient Egypt (c. 3100–332 BCE) had long been seen by the French people as a land of mystery, exoticism, and spiritualism. It was a place connected to the histories of Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, and European imperialism, becoming known in the nineteenth century as the cradle of Western civilization. Throughout the French Second Empire (1852–70) and Third Republic (1870–1940), Egypt’s ancient monuments and culture served as inspiration for French scholarship, artwork, and imperial pursuits. The French government also affirmed its ongoing involvement with the historic glory of Egypt through modern infrastructure projects like the Suez Canal (1859–69) and historic discoveries like the excavation in 1922 of Tutankhamun’s (c. 1341–1323 BCE, r. c. 1332–1323 BCE) tomb. These French and Egyptian post-1869 encounters and the variety of visual and material culture they generated exemplify the growing French consumer audience for Egyptomania. Through an array of objects inspired by both fantasies of and encounters with Egypt, an eclectic range of French artists produced a vision of Egypt as a land that was simultaneously ancient and modern. This dissertation examines the shifting French Orientalist depictions of Egypt from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Through four case studies, this project analyzes the French imagery and objects inspired by specific events in French and Egyptian history in the late Second Empire and early Third Republic: the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869; the Universal Exposition in Paris in 1889; the Émile Bernard (1868–1941) retrospective exhibition of 1901 in Paris; and the discovery of King Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922. These events mark the growing global circulation of people and objects through international travel and tourism. They also represent an understudied period in French Egyptomania and build upon the extensive scholarship on France and Egypt in the late-eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The range of objects and their moments of production and reception also offer a more complete picture of the art and material cultures of French Orientalism, establishing that Egypt held a larger and more dominant place in the French Orientalist imaginary of this later period (post-1869) than acknowledged by current scholarship. This project’s consideration of the French images and objects inspired by these key events and their reception demonstrates how French art and material culture propagated a recognizable and enduring vision of Egypt for the French people.

Committee Chair

Elizabeth Childs

Committee Members

John Klein; Nancy Reynolds; Nathaniel Jones; Nicola Aravecchia

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Author's Department

Art History & Archaeology

Author's School

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

Document Type

Dissertation

Date of Award

4-22-2026

Language

English (en)

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Available for download on Friday, April 21, 2028

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