Selfie ante literam: the draugtsman’s self-representation in the description de l’Égypte, and the birth of Romanticism in architectural vedute

Abstract

The allure of the vedute, those picturesque depictions of buildings, monuments and towns which were so fashionable during the XVIII and XIX centuries, goes well beyond their aesthetic value. They represent a paramount source of knowledge, since they do not provide ex-ternos information uniquely, namely on the appearance of a particular building or landscape at a particular moment, but also in-ternos information, i.e. on how they were perceived by their contemporaries (Puche et alii 2017) and even on the draugtsman’s self-perception. In this work, the self-perception of the draughtsmen who joined Napoleon’s expedition to Egypt will be examined. In the course of that mission, not only a monument and its surroundings, but also the documentation process itself and the associated adventurous spirit were portrayed systematically for the first time.

Keywords

• vedute
• egipto faraónico
• description de l'égypte
• dibujante