DENON, Dominique Vivant. Letter in Arabic from Dominique-Vivant Denon to the Vice King of Egypt, written by a scribe and signed by Denon. [Paris], March 1, 1825.
Letter dictated to an Arabic scribe by the Baron Denon one month before his death. He recommends the lieutenant Adolphe Thiébault (1797-1875) to the viceroy Muhammad Ali Pacha. In a letter from Belliard to Boyer written at the beginning of 1825 during the French Military Mission to Muhamad Aly (correspondence of Generals Belliard and Boyer) Belliard indicates '[...] General Tbiébault's son is going to Egypt. He is very young and not very advanced to run in the oriental countries. I do not know him particularly well, but his father is a good and brave man. The son asks me to recommend him to you, I do so, my dear general; take care of him, watch over his youth; he is the son of a good comrade, he will know, I hope, by his conduct, how to deserve your kindness. [...]'. Denon was a diplomat ever since the ancien régime, had served in Egypt since Napoleon and can be regarded as the father of modern Egyptology. As an artist and engraver he was responsible for the monumental 2-volume work of 1802, Voyage dans la Basse et la Haute Égypte, pendant les campagnes du général Bonaparte. He remained engaged in all matters Egyptian after the end of Napoleon's reign. In the 1820s the Khedive himself sought close collaboration with the French and sent Egyptian students to Paris, to create active 'modernizers' for the new independent state. In 1829 Muhammad Ali presented the French with the Luxor Obelisk which was erected in the Place de la Concorde where it still stands. - This official letter in Arabic is accompanied by a contemporary French word-by-word translation on a separate sheet.
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