num_pages: 424
description: A lifelong devotee of ancient Egyptian and Oriental culture the French author artist and scholar Achille-Constant-Thodore-mile Prisse dAvennes (18071879) is famed as one of the most influential Egyptologists long before the discipline was even properly established. Prisse first embarked on his explorations in 1836 documenting sites throughout the Nile Valley often under his Egyptian pseudonym Edris Effendi. Prisses first publication of notes drawings and squeezes (a kind of frottage) came in the form of Les Monuments gyptiens a modest collection of 51 plates but one met with considerable acclaim in both popular and intellectual circles. Encouraged by his success Prisse returned to Egypt in the late 1850s to expand his work. His subsequent vast oeuvres LHistoire de lart gyptien and LArt arabe offer a truly complete survey of Egyptian art. The albums cover architecture drawing sculpture painting and industrial or minor arts with sections plans architectural details and surface decoration all documented with utmost sensitivity and accuracy. Even when compared to the products of the great state-sponsored expeditions to Egypt of this period Prisses compendium remains the largest singlehanded illustrated record of Egyptian art in existence. This publication brings together for the first time the complete collection of Prisses unsurpassed illustrations in a visual and archaeological feast of symmetry and complexity mystery and opulence.
language: English
title: Prisse d'Avennes. Egyptian Art
publisher: TASCHEN