Georges Legrain
Georges Legrain (born October 4, 1865 in Paris , † August 22, 1917 in Luxor ) was a French draftsman and Egyptologist .
Youth and education
His father often visited the Egyptian department of the Louvre with the boy, so that he discovered his interest in Egyptology as a boy. From 1883 to 1890 he was a student at the École nationale des Beaux-Arts and a pupil of the painter Jean-Léon Gérôme and also dealt with archeology and ancient architecture. He attended lectures at the École du Louvre , the Sorbonne and the Collège de France , where he heard the then Egyptologists Paul Pierret , Eugène Revillout , Maxence de Rochemonteix (1849-1891) and Gaston Maspero . His first article appeared in 1887 on the analysis of a papyrus in demotic script . In the Louvre he cataloged some collections of Egyptian antiquities. From 1890 to 1892 the Bibliothèque Nationale commissioned him to catalog their coins and medals. Legrain, however, still lived from his profession as a painter and maintained a studio in the Rue du Cherche-Midi.
In Egypt as a draftsman
In 1892 he had the opportunity to go to Cairo to work as a draftsman as a member of the Institut français d'archéologie orientale (IFAO) under Urbain Bouriant . All archaeologists needed draftsmen and painters to document their finds. Jacques de Morgan , the new head of the Service des Antiquités , asked for his collaboration for his Catalog des Monuments et Inscriptions de l'Egypte . Legrain worked on the first volume on the graffiti in the Aswan area , painted a watercolor of the Monastery of St. Siméon and drew the tombs of Qubbet el-Hawa . Then it went to Kom Ombo , where he drew the whole temple with Urbain Bouriant, Gustave Jéquier and Alessandro Barsanti and on to Edfu . From 1893 to 1894 he worked again with Bouriant and Jéquier, this time on the rock tombs of Tell el-Amarna . In the spring of 1895 de Morgan needed him in Dahshur , where he had discovered the jewelry of two princesses, of which Legrain made beautiful watercolors. Legrain was working at an astonishing speed and had achieved the necessary precision and security without difficulty. In November 1894, de Morgan appointed him "Inspecteur-dessinateur".
By now he had learned Arabic and de Morgan hired him to work in Karnak . Legrain began to clear one of the main axes. Little did he know that Karnak would be his main task.
To prepare another volume of the “Catalog des Monument” he copied the inscriptions from Gebel Silsileh . He then went to the oasis Kharga with the intention in the desert Silex to find (even flint or flint) tools or arrowheads. He was one of the first to point out this prehistoric and archaic period. In 1896, Jacques de Morgan took up this evidence and, accompanied by Legrain and the painter Georges Jules Victor Clairin, traveled to Sinai , where he studied the rock layers of Wadi Maghara as a qualified mining engineer and geologist .
On October 24, 1898, he married Jeanne-Hélène Ducros, daughter of a pharmacist in Cairo. The marriage resulted in two sons, born in Cairo in 1901 and 1907.
His life's work: Karnak
In November 1895 Jacques de Morgan , director of the Service des antiquités , gave him the newly created position of overseer for the restoration of the huge temple complex at Karnak . He was to be responsible for this immense task for the next 22 years.
On October 3, 1899, 11 of the more than 20 m high columns of the north wing of the Hypostyle Hall collapsed in a chain reaction . The old foundations consisted of small sandstone blocks, called “talatat” by the Egyptologists, which could no longer withstand the enormous weight of the 134 pillars with the roof. The sandstone was so attacked by erosion and salty groundwater that Legrain now had to build a new foundation for each column from new stones with iron reinforcements. He states the completion of this work for the 11 pillars on May 15, 1902 in the "Annalen". The foundations in the south wing were later renewed column by column, while the column remained standing.
Discovery of the cachette
In 1903 Legrain found the famous “ cachette ” (hiding place) in a courtyard at the 7th pylon during excavation work . Over the course of four years, he brought more than 750 stone statues and approx. 18,000 different bronze objects from different ages to light out of the water and mud, which are among the most beautiful objects ever found in Egypt. Legrain laboriously cataloged the individual pieces. Then they went to the museum in Cairo. In the meantime, individual pieces have been sold to other museums or collections. It was not until 2006 that IFAO started the “Karnak Cachette” project with the aim of creating a scientific database on the Internet of all objects found. In 2008 a cooperation agreement was signed between the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), represented by its Secretary General Dr. Zahi Hawass , and the IFAO, represented by its director, Dr. Laure Pantalacci. A scientific committee chaired by Professor Ali Radwan was supposed to oversee the work. The pieces discovered by Legrain were marked with a "K".
Legrain was the only European on site to manage the construction site with up to 700 workers. In addition, he had to draw plans, negotiate with the local authorities, register and copy the finds and translate the inscriptions brought to light, as well as everything for the annual reports to the Antiquities Service on the progress of his work for publication in the “Annales du Service des antiquités de l'Egypte “(ASAE). A change was offered by important and unimportant visitors to whom he was happy to show "his" temple. During the long years he suffered from heat, isolation, and often from hierarchy. Gaston Maspero was director of the Antiquities Service from 1899 to 1914 and had to provide the necessary funds for the work on the temple complex. Legrain had to agree the necessary measures with Maspero. Nevertheless, Legrain worked tirelessly on his task: saving the temples of Karnak.
The outbreak of the First World War brought work to a standstill in Karnak.
In 1915 Legrain became chief inspector for Upper Egypt and began - undoubtedly a little carelessly - with work on the temple complex at Luxor. He contracted a fatal illness and died in a few days on August 22, 1917 in his house in Karnak. He was buried in the Catholic cemetery in Cairo.
His most important records have been lost. However, he proved to be an excellent photographer, so that today more than 1200 negatives - unfortunately spread over different places - can give evidence of his immeasurable work. His successor as chief inspector was Maurice Pillet , who then resumed work in Karnak from 1920.
Fonts
- with Jacques de Morgan, Urbain Bouriant, Gustave Jéquier, A. Barsanti: Catalog des monuments et inscriptions de l'Egypte antique. 3 volumes (De la frontière de Nubie à Kom Ombos, Kom Ombos), Holzhausen, Vienna 1894–1909.
- with Jacques de Morgan: Fouilles à Dahchour. 2 volumes, Holzhausen, Vienna 1895, 1903.
- L'aile nord du pylône d'Aménophis III a Karnak. Leroux, Paris 1902.
- Statues et statuettes de rois et de particuliers. 3 volumes, Institut Franaçis d'Archéologie Orientale, Cairo 1906–1925, (Catalog général des antiquités égyptiennes du musée du Caire).
- Louqsor sans les pharaons. Légends et chansons popular de la Haute Égypte. Vromant, Paris 1914.
- Friedrich Preisigke : Egyptian and Greek inscriptions and graffiti from the quarries of Gebel Silsile (Upper Egypt): after the drawings by Georges Legrain. Trübner, Strasbourg 1915.
- Les Temples de Karnak. Vromant, Brussels 1929.
- Une Famille copte de Haute-Egypte. Brussels 1945.
literature
- Henri Munier: Bibliography des ouvrages de Georges Legrain. In: Annales du Service des Antiquités de l'Égypte. (ASAE) Volume 19, Cairo 1920, pp. 118-126.
- Warren R. Dawson, Eric P. Uphill, ML Bierbrier: Who was who in Egyptology. 3rd edition, The Egypt Exploration Society, London 1995, p. 246.
- Michel Azim, Gerard Reveillac: Karnak dans l'objectif de Georges Legrain. Catalog raisonne des archives photographiques du premier directeur des travaux de Karnak de 1895 a 1917 . 2 volumes (Volume I: Text. Volume II. Figures), CNRS, Paris 2004, ISBN 978-2271062239 .
Web links
- Appreciation of G. Legrain by Pierre Lacau in Annales du Service des Antiquités de l'Égypte , Volume 19 (1920) with bibliography (French text)
- Karnak Great Hypostyle Hall Project , University of Memphis
- Cachette de Karnak - Listed by the Institut française d'archéologie orientale (IFAO) in Cairo
- Literature by and about Georges Legrain in the catalog of the German National Library
Individual evidence
- ↑ Jacques de Morgan: Fouilles à Dahchour . Watercolor legrain.
- ^ Painting by Clairin in the Walters Art Museum
- ^ "Annales du Service des antiquités de l'Egypte", Volume IV. Publisher: Imprimérie de l 'Institut français d'archéologie orientale. Cairo 1902. page 38
- ^ Ancient world online
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Legrain, Georges |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French draftsman and Egyptologist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 4, 1865 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Paris |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 22, 1917 |
| Place of death | Luxor |