Pastime in Ancient Egypt

Gebbie & Barrie|Charles William Sharpe|Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema

1876 · Etching and engraving · Drawings and Prints

Harpists here accompany musicians and dancers who entertain the Pharaoh and his family within an interior adorned with lotus topped columns and a sculpture resembling a mummy case. Sharpe's engraving reproduces Alma-Tadema's 1863 painting (Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston), made shortly after he visited Italy and met Georg Ebers, an Egyptologist who encouraged a life-long fascination with the ancient world. "Pastimes [rather than Pastime] in Ancient Egypt" was shown at the Paris Salon of 1864 and won a gold medal, then was sent to the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, America's first international fair. At that time Gebbie & Barrie published this engraving in a commemorative catalogue (a similar print by Sharpe, perhaps an earlier state, had appeared in London's "The Art Journal" in April 1874.)

Artist

Gebbie & Barrie|Charles William Sharpe|Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema

Date

1876

Medium

Etching and engraving

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Gift of Donato Esposito, 2015