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The authors do not try to find someone to blame for current exploitations of Pharaonic or Isiac (Isis/Osiris) imagery in the name of whatever quasi-religion. Humbert, Pantazzi and Ziegler instead try to indicate how thousands of years of debris accumulated; creating a physical atmosphere in which anachronisms, pastiches and outright fakes became easily tolerated. Even while the antics of medieval alchemists, European Romantic artists and current theosophists will always be tapped for a cheap laugh, the articles in Egyptomania focus on less sensationalist but more thought-provoking incidents.
Now that hieroglyphic notation has been deciphered for good, it is easy to forget that archaeologists were hampered all along by legitimate historical artifacts that nevertheless served to confound their endeavor. This is where the ancient Egyptians come into play. Egyptian culture was not an offshoot of Greco-Roman civilization, though it can be easily read as such nowadays. Greeks and Romans with monarchist leanings were so enamored of the Pharaonic style, and even the Isiac religious philosophy, that Egyptian motifs were either incorporated into their art and architecture independently, or outrightly commissioned. As Ziegler puts it, "Egyptian artists engraved inscriptions on unfinished obelisks for emperors and prominent Romans; these were pastiches in hieroglyphic form of ancient-style titles." (p. 19) By acting out of piety, the craftsmen left behind a string of red herrings for Egyptologists of later centuries. These contemporary fakes were soon enough jumbled up with genuine articles, transplanted by conquering emperors and later political figures. In such a manner "Rome perpetuated a certain vision of Egypt that became confused with reality" (p. 20) and that pseudo-reality was eventually subsumed into the history of Western culture.
A reader who may otherwise feel baffled at the Black Cleopatra movement should find some food for thought in the restoration projects demonstrated in some of the chapters. Whether or not the angular profile of Cleopatra (appearing in the catalog on coins struck during her reign) might be interpreted as Negroid is a separate issue. The systematic reinterpretation of African figures salvaged from Egyptian tombs, on the other hand, is clearly shown. Neshor, a 589-570 BCE statue (p. 52), underwent plastic surgery during the 17th Century and wound up with a Greek nose. Ramses II, a seated figure of calcite alabaster (p. 54), had a waxen-looking upper body grafted onto his 1279-1213 BCE lower body in the late 18th Century, complete with a beefy torso and pudgy Italianate face. The final chapter of Egyptomania is dedicated to the creepy transformation of Cleopatra down the ages, from a notoriously homely politician into a chest- heaving, half-naked, Eurotrashy vampire. The need for European curators to see themselves in a prehistoric mirror led to such aesthetic whitewash. Extreme the backlash may be, yet it is neither rootless nor unsympathetic.
Such reinterpretations as those listed above were not just for private amusement. The symbols of a long-dead and vaguely understood religion were put to work in the name of edification, adorning libraries and museums in various ways. Public art and royal patronage only served to perpetuate high-culture legends like Hermes Trismegistus and the Mensa Isiaca. After all, the world-famous Shroud is not the only fake uncovered in Turin. The Mensa Isiaca, also kept under guard in that Italian city, was judged to be a recent invention in 1909 (p. 64). The discovery shattered its reputation as a legitimate Egyptian artifact, and turned its centuries-long history as a visual dictionary into a source of embarrassment.
Certainly the book has quite a few kitschy moments, including an Osiris rising out of the top of an ice cream jar and other culinary oddities; plus some appalling home furnishings. These lapses in taste should not distract from the overall message, however. Any browser will need to keep in mind that the authors of Egyptomania are curators and art historians rather than scientists. The aesthetic techniques covered may be arcane to some, but they have played a central role in the misappropriation and misinterpretation of art objects ancient enough to double as scientific evidence.
This compendium is, all in all, more valuable as an overview of artistic techniques, and as a social history, than as a strict archaeological thesis. Anyone interested in the museum as an institution and as a resource for public education will be challenged by the thorny issues raised in the commentary and supported by the illustrations. The pictures in Egyptomania go beyond acting as inventory records or eye candy. Exhibit photos are compared to museum records or artist renditions of centuries gone by. Later European and American works inspired by individual objects or motifs are also incorporated, and their anachronistic elements are analyzed separately. Such details alone make the work a resource for case histories of mistaken identity, invented reputation or imaginary significance.
-- Jennifer Kramer
You won't find any pyramid schemes at Gavin Watson's Egyptomania pages!
