The large
collection of Egyptian drawings put together by William John Bankes and his
party between 1815 and 1822 has now been catalogued and is available on-line (http://archives.dorsetforyou.com/adlibwebapp/default.aspx).
As the catalogue does not have a page on
its own, it must be reached through a query: the keywords suggested are
“Egyptian Drawings”. Photos are not
available on-line yet, but on request the Dorset History Centre can provide a
digital image of the documents.
William
John Bankes (1786-1855), a wealthy gentleman of Dorset, travelled in Egypt and
the Near East in the years 1815-1819 and hired a number of artists to record
almost one hundred different archaeological sites in Egypt, Nubia, Siwa, and
the Sinai. The collection is thus one of
the richest in its kind, comprising around 1,700 documents by Bankes himself,
Alessandro Ricci, Louis Adolphe Maurice Linant de Bellefonds, William Henry
Beechey and Henry Salt. As one can
expect there is a large variety of subjects: epigraphy, landscape views,
measured plans and elevations, maps, anthropological and natural drawings. Beside the purely artistic value, the
collection has remarkable documents, including records of monuments that have
since then disappeared.
The
complete catalogue and the photographic record of the collection, carried out
by Egyptologist Daniele Salvoldi as a volunteer work, were a fortunate addition
to a five months research stay awarded by the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei in
Rome, co-funded by the British Academy.
The collection of drawings, owned by the National Trust as heir of the
last member of the Bankes family, is now deposited in the Dorset History
Centre, Dorchester.
Key Note for Document Search:
For more information:
- Salvoldi D., The Catalogue of William John Bankes’ Egyptian Portfolio (1815-1822), in «Bulletin of the Association for the Study of Travel in Egypt and the Near East» 51 (2012), p. 20.
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| (In the picture: Kingston Lacy House with the small Philae obelisk) |
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