Frye Art Museum: Napoleon and the Egyptian Campaign

We popped in the Frye Art Museum to see what was going on yesterday and caught Napoleon on the Nile: Soldiers, Artists, and the Rediscovery of Egypt (August 30 – January 4). The show was about Napoleon’s Egyptian campaign from 1798 – 1801. Napoleon went to Egypt to protect French trade interests and disrupt British trade routes. While in Egypt, 150+ savants (scholars and scientists) and 2,000 artists and technicians came along to document ancient and modern Egypt. Though the campaign was ultimately unsuccessful and the French pulled out, all the scientific research and observations and engravings were published in Description de l’Égypte from 1809 to 1828. Pages from this publication made up the bulk of the exhibit.

There was also a free lecture on this particular day called The Cinematic Emperor: Images of Napoleon on Film where two experts showed clips of movies about Napoleon and discussed them.