Hedvig Győry: Mélanges offerts a Edith Varga „Le lotus qui sort de terre” (Bulletin du Musée Hongrois des Beaux-Arts Supplément 1. Budapest, 2001)

JOACHIM SLIWA: Egyptian Hall and the Exhibition of Egyptian Art in London, 1821-1822

that an architect took pattern by the famous temple of Hathor in Dendera,

13 known already then from the work of DominiqueVivant Denon, Voyage dans la Basse et la Haute Egypte (Paris 1802, an English edition was published in London in the same year).

14 Some researchers paid attention to the fact, that this statement is not pertinent.

15 Analysing individual Egyptian elements in the façade of the Egyptian Hall it is necessary to accept that this object did not posses the one, precise and particular prototype in ancient times. The architect took individual "Egyptian" elements from then available engravings, coming from the publications, which appeared after an expedition of Napoleon to Egypt (1798-1800). Easily to the most important and the most inspiring belonged large material coming from the above mentioned work of Denon. We can specify here also many of other publications.

16 For sure the great role played also the projects of fireplaces with the authorship of Giovanbattista Piranesi (1720-1778).

17 Even if such details as sphinxes tail-to-tail, hieroglyphs used in the frames of the windows and doors, almost identical winged scarab, but mainly windows with stepped corbelled heads, rooting from the idea of "reversed pyramid" in Piranesi's designs indicate that.

1

* For the history of Egyptology and the extraordinary increase of the interest in Egyptian art among a large audience, the great meaning had the exhibition organised in London in 1821 by G. B. Belzoni (1778-1823),

19 that took place exactly in the Egyptian Hall. This building was like predestinated for that aim. " Object from Ptolemaic and Roman times. See D. Arnold, Die Tempel Ägyptens. Götterwohnungen, Baudenkmäler Kultstätten, Augsburg 1996, pp. 164-168 (with bibliography); Humbert, op. cit. (note 1), p. 142, No. 73. 14 Among other things James Eimes (1827) already mentioned above concurred with such opinion: "The details are correctly taken from Denon's celebrated work, principally from the great temple at Tentyra" (quoted after R.G. Carrot, op. cit. (note I), p. 34 and note 68, p. 45). Whereas in the last few years we can find such opinion also by L. Montobbio, Giovanni Battista Belzoni. La vita, i viaggi, le scoperte, Padova 1984, p. 154. 15 Cfr. H. Honour, The Egyptian Taste, The Connoisseur, Vol. 135, No. 456 (May 1955), p. 245. Humbert carefully analysing the inspiring influence of temple in Dendera (La redécouverte de Dendera et son interprétation dans I 'art du XIX siècle, in: Hommages à Jean Leclant, Vol. 4, Cairo 1994, pp. 137-146) does not also specify London's Egyptian Hall in this context. " Cfr. Ch. Percier - C.-F. Fontaine, Recueil de décorations intérieures, Paris 1801; T. Hope, Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, London 1807; J. M. Gandy, Rural Architect, London 1810. See also other works quoted by B. Jaeger, Giuseppe Jappelli. le Café Pedroechi de Padoue et la redécouverte de l'Egypte antique en Italie, OBO 150: Ägypten-Bilder, Freibourg-Göttingen 1997, p. 208 and notes 236-239. 11 See his Diverse manière d'adornare i cammini, Roma 1769. Cfr. M. Pantazzi, in: Àgyptomanie. Ägypten in der europäischen Kunst 1730-1930, Wien 1994, nos. 12-19, pp. 51-58. 18 See M. Pantazzi, op. cit. (note 17), nos. 16 and 19, and also N. Pevsner - S. Lang, op.cit. (note 9), pp. 244-245. An analogous conception of the entrance (with a sheme of the "step pyramid") by G. Jappelli from the years 1827-1830 at Conegliano (Villa Gera), sec B. Jaeger, op. cit. (note 16), p.

209 (fig. 9) and pi. 82,1. "Cfr. Who is who in Egyptology, London 1995', pp. 40-41 with rich bibliography. See also the biography by M. Montobbio quoted in note 14.