Page "Orientalism" Paragraph 23

French Orientalist painting was transformed by Napoleon's ultimately unsuccessful invasion of Egypt and Syria in 1798-1801, which stimulated great public interest in Egyptology, and was also recorded in subsequent years by Napoleon's court painters, especially Baron Gros, although the Middle Eastern campaign was not one on which he accompanied the army.

Two of his most successful paintings, Bonaparte Visiting the Plague Victims of Jaffa ( 1804 ) and Battle of Abukir ( 1806 ) focus on the Emperor, as he was by then, but include many Egyptian figures, as does the less effective Napoleon at the Battle of the Pyramids ( 1810 ).

Girodet's La Révolte du Caire ( 1810 ) was another large and prominent example.

A well-illustrated Description de l ’ Égypte was published by the French Government in twenty volumes between 1809 and 1828, concentrating on antiquities.