In the exhibition - Musée Jacquemart

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Press release
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Introduction by Bruno Monnier, CEO of Culturespaces
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A journey through the exhibition
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Brief history of the Late Period of Ancient Egypt
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Nélie the Egyptian
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Visuals available for the press
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Culturespaces, producer and director of the exhibition
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The team
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Visitor aids
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Publications
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Sponsor of the exhibition
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Partners of the exhibition
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The Jacquemart-André Museum
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Practical information
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From 23 March to 23 July 2012, several masterpieces from the last thousand years of Pharaonic
history (1069-30 BC) will fill the Jacquemart-André Museum. For the first time, an exhibition is
drawing attention to the most beautiful creations from this period to show how wrong it would be
to reduce the “twilight” of Ancient Egypt to ten centuries of decline, even if the country was
successively invaded by the Kushites, the Persians and the Macedonians.
More than one hundred exceptional items from temples or tombs, loaned by the biggest
international collections of Egyptian antiquities (Ägyptisches Museum in Berlin, British Museum,
Musée du Louvre, Metropolitan Museum in New York, Museum of Fine Arts in Boston,
Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, etc.) bear witness to the wealth and diversity of Egyptian
artistic creation after the Ramesses.
Discover the last millennium of the Pharaohs
Egypt was invaded on a number of occasions during the thousand years before it was conquered by
the Romans in 30 BC. It was governed by a succession of rulers – Libyan kings (Twenty-Second
dynasty), the “black Pharaohs” from Nubia (Twenty-Fifth dynasty) and Persians (starting with the
Twenty-Seventh dynasty) - before the Greeks took over with the conquest of Alexander the Great in
332 BC.
From a military and political perspective, this was an unstable period, but Egyptian art, with its long
tradition under the Pharaohs, maintained its prestigious position under new foreign rulers, who
appropriated its codes with slight variations in style. Although this has long been thought of as a time
of decline, it actually saw an outstanding artistic revival. The Saite Period (672-525 BC) was the high
point of this thousand-year era, and is considered a genuine renaissance in Egyptian art. It was
during this period, under the Twenty-Sixth dynasty, that Egypt regained its independence, before
being invaded by the Persians who formed the Twenty-Seventh dynasty.
This was a time of economic prosperity marked by encounters with other cultures. It saw the
construction of large monuments celebrating the greatness of Egyptian culture.
Outstanding art
Sculptures, reliefs, sarcophagi, death masks, items of worship and jewellery from tombs and
prestigious temples are some of the many examples of art from this period, which combines elegant
proportions, delicate forms and sparing details. Proven technical mastery and a strong taste for clean
lines produced outstanding art of unrivalled perfection, especially with regard to statue work.
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The exhibition – from the kingdom of the living to the kingdom of the dead
Historical introduction
Throughout its themed tour, the exhibition compares several of the best-known masterpieces of art
from the last ten dynasties of pharaonic Egypt. After a historical presentation that provides a
timeline covering artistic production in the Tanis, Libyan, Kushite, Saite, Persian, Sebennyte and
Ptolemaic periods, the exhibition gives the public the chance to discover more than one hundred of
the most beautiful creations from the 1st century BC. Visitors will be guided from the realms of the
living and the dead to the universe of gods, passing through the realm of the pharaohs.
From the realm of the living...
Depicting man was one of the challenges that faced the Egyptian sculptors from the Predynastic
period to the days of Roman domination. If one period is particularly famed for the technical
perfection it attained in this area, it is the last thousand years of pharaonic history (cube statue of
Padishahededet, Petit Palais warehouse in the Musée du Louvre, Paris).
A group of perfectly preserved, high quality statues representing priests or other state dignitaries
demonstrates the variety of materials, items of clothing and above all the poses in which men and
women chose to be depicted: standing, kneeling, or seated on the ground or a chair, they may also
be accompanied by a divine effigy.
The archaistic style, which was very fashionable from the end of the Libyan period until the the 26 th
Dynasty, brought shorter clothing into favour, which allowed sculptors to apply their talents to the
representation of the human body (incomplete statue of Horudja standing, Musée du Louvre, Paris).
Once this style fell out of fashion, the craftsmen were no less sensitive in their treatment of the
human body, reinterpreting the anatomy in their own way and using polishing to perfect the
sculptures (incomplete standing statue known as “Dattari”, Brooklyn Museum, New York).
But it was to the depiction of faces that Egyptian sculptors devoted most of their attention:
whether these were idealised with rounded, juvenile features (upper part of a male statue, Museo
Egizio, Florence) or whether, by contrast, they demonstrate the sculptor’s quest to portray the
individual realistically with wrinkles and lines (Green Head, Ägyptisches Museum, Berlin), faces were
the area where sculptors chose to demonstrate their talent.
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... to the realm of the dead
Three rooms of the exhibition are devoted to funerary practices. The funeral trappings of Late Egypt
were less extensive than those of previous periods, but each of the elements could attain a
remarkable level of quality. Some splendid examples have been gathered together to demonstrate
the luxury with which the Egyptian elite surrounded themselves, either inside the tomb or in the
chapel, the accessible part of the tomb where the deceased was worshipped.
The first room devoted to the “realm of the dead” brings together the items that were traditionally
present in the funerary chapel in the Late Period. An offering table, situla and stelae were used to
magically provide the deceased with the nourishment they required in the afterlife.
In the second room, there are some magnificent examples of each of the items that would have
surrounded the deceased within the tomb. A coffin, richly illustrated papyrus, a heart scarab,
canopic jars, an effigy of the god of the dead and funerary servants from various periods have been
brought together here for their exceptional sculptural quality.
The third room contains various elements from the tomb of an individual who lived in the 4 th
century BC. This priest, called Ankhemmaat, officiated in Heracleopolis, a town near to the Faiyum
opening onto the Nile Valley, about 100 kilometres to the south of Memphis. This notable provincial
took with him some essential objects that would allow him to survive in the afterlife, making his
funerary artefacts a particularly significant example of a Late Period tomb. As well as his coffin and
his mummy case (large funeral mask, private collection), there is also a whole troop of funerary
servants, a statue of the god of the dead and a large, magnificently decorated casket designed to
hold the mummified viscera and cloth used during mummification.
From the Libyan pharaohs to the Ptolemaic rulers
After focusing on the portrayal of Egyptians and on the artefacts that accompanied them into the
afterlife, the exhibition moves onto the image of the pharaoh. The last ten centuries of Pharaonic
Egypt saw major political upheavals, as the country was sometimes governed by Egyptian kings,
sometimes by kings from overseas. Throughout this period, the image of the pharaoh evolved. This
development is illustrated by the royal heads dating from each of the periods covered by the
exhibition: Libyan Period, Kushite Dynasty, 26th Dynasty, Persian Period, Last Native Dynasties and
Ptolemaic Period. Although each of these royal heads can be placed in the period in which they were
created, it is however difficult to identify the subject for certain without any text: more than a
portrait, each of these heads represents the image that each period had of its ruler.
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The universe of gods
As well as men, women and pharaohs, the Egyptian universe was populated by numerous divinities.
Worship in Late Egypt was pursued particularly actively, so that devotion of various divine forms
increased, compared with the main national figures of the Egyptian pantheon.
The main divinities of the Egyptian state are represented by exceptional masterpieces, such as the
gold statue of Amun (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) and the effigy of Bastet in the form
of cat known as the “Gayer Anderson Cat” (British Museum, London). The other figures of the
pantheon are not to be outdone and are sometimes represented in several forms, such as Thoth,
who is sometimes depicted as an ibis and sometimes as a baboon (Kunsthistorisches Museum,
Vienna).
Among the divinities who grew in popularity during the 1st century BC, first place should probably be
awarded to Osiris. Around a large effigy of nearly a metre tall (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) are
gathered several statues of the god depicting him in both his agrarian and lunar aspects.
Several works have also been brought together to illustrate the various portrayals of the daughter
of the sun god in Late Egypt (Aegis, The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore). This menacing, bloodthirsty
lioness (Bust of a lioness goddess, private collection) is appeased by the music played by her son and
priests (fragment of a counterweight for a menat necklace in the name of Harsiese, Ägyptisches
Museum, Berlin) and takes the form of a cat with a protective character.
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Through the exhibitions that it organises and produces at the Jacquemart-André Museum,
Culturespaces has chosen to highlight the refined and eclectic tastes of the renowned founders of
this Museum. After revealing the attachment of Nélie Jacquemart to the Italian Renaissance with the
Fra Angelico and the Masters of Light exhibition, visitors are invited to discover a lesser known part
of her collection through The Twilight of the Pharaohs. Masterpieces from the last Egyptian
Dynasties.
A lover of Egyptian art, Nélie Jacquemart gathered together several pieces of wonderful
craftsmanship which attest to the quality and reliability of her artistic choices, especially works from
the Saite Period, a time of real renaissance for Egyptian civilisation.
It is this period of artistic revival and more generally the 1st millennium BC that The Twilight of the
Pharaohs is devoted to. This is the first time an exhibition unveils art from the last Egyptian
Dynasties. The exhibition focuses on the art produced, as shown by the display of masterpieces from
the greatest collections around the world.
Through a themed tour, The Twilight of the Pharaohs. Masterpieces from the last Egyptian Dynasties
will address the three major subjects at the heart of artistic creation, a creation whose aim is entirely
centred on the survival of the soul: Man, the Pharaoh and the Gods. More than 100 works have been
selected.
The curator of this exhibition is Mr Olivier Perdu, an Egyptologist connected to the Chair of
Egyptology of the Collège de France and a specialist in the Late Period of Ancient Egypt. The
exhibition receives scientific patronage from the Institut de France, and especially Mr Nicolas Grimal,
member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, Chair of Egyptology at the Collège de
France and scientific director of the Centre Franco-Égyptien d’Étude des Temples de Karnak (CFEETK).
Bruno MONNIER
CEO of Culturespaces
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Of the ten centuries that separate the fall of the last Ramesses and the sad demise of Cleopatra VII,
we all too often remember only the turmoil that was suffered at the end of the Libyan Period and the
invasions to which the country was successively subjected by the Kushites, the Persians and then the
Macedonians. As a result, we tend to recall this period only as a long but inevitable journey down the
path of decline, during which Egypt would lose its sovereign power for good. However, if we
consider the quality of work produced in the various arts, we have to accept that it does not tally
with such a negative vision of the situation, as the workshops continued to create some beautiful
objects, if not masterpieces. It is on this evidence, which shines a new light on the last millennium
of pharaonic history, that the exhibition intends to focus.
The natural common themes for this tour of the most beautiful creations of Late Egypt remain the
three subjects at the very heart of pharaonic artistic output: Man, the Pharaoh and the Gods.
Omnipresent in the sculptures, they remain the central characters of multiple scenes that decorated
the walls of temples and tombs.
Ground floor
The visitor is greeted with the most spectacular works of the exhibition in terms of their size,
illustrating the different themes and presenting the Egyptians, the pharaohs and the gods. They are
united around an impressive effigy of Osiris (Statue of Osiris devoted by Ptahirdis, Museum of Fine
Arts, Boston) and three large “duplicate” statues of Nakhthorheb, an important figure from the
court of Psammetichus II (British Museum, London; Musée du Louvre, Paris; private collection),
presented together for the first time.
Room 1
Historical introduction
Four royal effigies in bronze provide an opportunity to conjure up the ten centuries of history that
the exhibition covers, from the start of the 21st Dynasty to the end of the Ptolemaic Period (1069-30
BC). Continuing the historical introduction presented at the start of the exhibition catalogue, a
chronological diagram provides reference points for locating the hundred or so artefacts that have
been selected for their quality from the artistic output of the Libyan, Kushite, Saite, Persian,
Sebennyte and Ptolemaic periods.
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It is a prelude to the discovery of many of the marvels of “Egypt in its twilight years”, some of them
famous and some little known, where the monuments will transport the visitor from the realms of
the living and the dead to the universe of the divinities, passing through the realm of the pharaohs at
the meeting point between the sacred and profane.
A population of statues
Rather than being known by their funerary artefacts, men and women were recognised thanks to
their temple statues. Placed in the accessible part of shrines, either by them or their descendants,
these statues were, according to some inscriptions, intended to allow them to benefit from “the
leftovers from the divine meal once the god had satisfied its hunger”, which was a convenient way
of remedying any deficiency in their diet in the necropolis.
In the later periods, the statuary was primarily composed of these effigies, as their number
continued to grow after the New Kingdom. They thus become important artefacts for tracing artistic
development. And yet, from one period to the next, they remain highly representative of the
strength of artistic creativity, as can be noted in particular by considering their surprising diversity.
The variety of wigs, costumes and finery is supplemented by the variety of poses, which the fifteen or
so monuments, all remarkably preserved, gathered together in the second part of the first room aim
to highlight by demonstrating the main conceivable possibilities.
From one statue to the next, you can see that the subjects adopt different poses, starting with
being seated on the ground in various ways, including with the knees drawn up in front, the position
adopted in the cube statues and by far the best represented category. To touch on this detail, the
exhibition has also united three of these (cube statue of Hor, Berlin, Ägyptisches Museum; cube
statue of Padishahededet, Petit Palais, Paris; cube statue of Peftjaouaset, Antikenmuseum, Basel)
taken from different periods, their differences illustrating that, within the same group, time itself can
be a diversifying factor. Then we see man sat on a chair, such as the governor Montouemhat in the
famous statue from Berlin (Ägyptisches Museum), before discovering him kneeling or standing; two
poses where he may be represented holding a divine figure, possibly in a naos. As for women, they
may be seated on a chair, but more often appear standing and are also likely to be holding a divine
image, as demonstrated by a hitherto unseen example of a woman called Tasheretptah (private
collection). We should add that the temple statues are portrayed in even more varied forms as, as
well as male and female figures, they also include groups that may combine people of both sexes,
such as the stele niche (private collection) that completes this review of the various types of statue.
Beyond the pose, it is the human body itself that was the main focus of the craftsmen in the Late
Period, in particular after the Libyan Period when archaistic tendencies brought back into fashion the
wearing of a single short loincloth. Two statues with particularly fine craftsmanship, one from the
Saite period (incomplete statue of Horudja standing, Musée du Louvre, Paris) and the other from
near the time of Alexander’s conquest (incomplete standing statue known as “Dattari”, Brooklyn
Museum, New York), reveal a quite remarkable perception of anatomy in the way in which the
torso and limbs are portrayed. Through this, we can see the image of man changing, gradually
moving away from the solid, powerful style and adopting a more delicate appearance where
elegance is key.
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Room 2
A certain image of man
The complete, or nearly complete, statues are followed by fragments, the quality of which is an
invitation to better understand the details that contribute towards the reputation of private statuary
in the Late Period.
Thanks to fifteen or so male heads, selected from among the most beautiful and representative of
Late Egypt, we can also see how the craftsmen became more concerned with the rendering of the
face. The examples shown bear witness to the two styles, one idealised and the other more
realistic, that shaped their evolution after the New Kingdom. The first style, which was inherited
from previous periods and remained fashionable after Alexander’s conquest, is magnificently
represented by an “egghead” from Berlin (had - egghead - of a male statue, Ägyptisches Museum).
The head of a female statue of the Ägyptisches Museum represents the female counterpart to the
“eggheads” exhibited among the male statues.
The second style, which appeared in the 25th Dynasty and from time to time thereafter, culminated
under the Ptolemaic rulers with the superb “green head” from Berlin (Ägyptisches Museum), an
undisputed masterpiece of Egyptian art displayed here with its “counterpart” from Boston (Museum
of Fine Arts, Boston), another marvel of the Ptolemaic period. In these works, the round, juvenile
faces have made way for ones where wrinkles and folds of skin emphasise the passing of time.
Room 6
Feminine beauties
This room, the smallest, has just enough room to complete our review of private statuary from the
Late Period by showing some representations of women, selected from the few examples that
temples and tombs have offered up. The first are standing effigies with a particularly remarkable
portrayal of the body. Next to a Ptolemaic queen with generous curves (standing statue of a queen,
Ägyptisches Museum, Berlin) are two small, naked women, one in ivory (naked female statue
standing, Ägyptisches Museum, Berlin) and the other in silver (Naked female statue standing, New
York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York), their slender and sensual silhouettes reminiscent of
the beauties of the Middle Kingdom. This group is completed by female heads, which show that the
signs of ageing have little effect on their appearance.
Each of these representations illustrates the feminine ideal of its time.
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Rooms 3-5
The kingdom of the dead
The next three rooms take us from the realm of the living to the kingdom of the dead, presenting
the most beautiful creations made by the Egyptians to meet their needs in the afterlife in the time
after the New Kingdom, when richly decorated tombs became the exception. Although the funerary
artefacts became less extensive than in previous periods, each of the elements was however made
with a great deal of care, as demonstrated by the objects selected, reflecting the expertise of the
craftsmen in the Late Period.
Room 3: The most beautiful objects for feeding the dead
The first of these three rooms is reserved for objects intended for funerary worship, which were
therefore placed in an accessible part of the tomb, generally at ground level, where they formed the
furnishings of what we commonly call the chapel. As the service held for the dead had no other aim
but to nourish them, the principle element is an offering table on which it was customary to pour
water contained in a situla as a simple way of conjuring up the funeral meal. These two accessories
are represented by some beautiful examples, and are supplemented by several funerary stelae and
other traditional chapel objects, including texts and possibly images reminding us of the deceased’s
concern that they should receive solid and liquid offerings.
Our example of an offering table (Musée du Louvre, Paris) is of particular interest because it
represents some remarkable craftsmanship, created as it was for a high-ranking official in the Saite
court in the second half of the 26th Dynasty. Not only is the top decorated with images of the
products offered to the deceased, but the sides are also covered with inscriptions detailing the
funeral menu. The stelae on display, all of which are well made and some exhibiting beautiful
colours, include one belonging to the high priest of Ptah, Pasheryenptah (British Museum, London),
which merits particular attention due to its rich decoration and magnificently engraved inscriptions.
Room 4: For the eternal rest of the mummy
Following on from the chapel accessories, the next room exhibits the main elements of the funeral
trousseau that every Egyptian would have kept in the secret of their tomb, usually dug into the
ground. This includes everything that was in contact with the mummy, such as the coffin and the few
objects that it contained, including the funerary papyrus and the heart scarab. But there are also
objects that are typical of burials in the Late Period, such as vessels containing viscera that were
removed from the body during embalming, servants intended to carry out agricultural tasks instead
of the deceased in the afterlife, and the traditional statue in the image of the god of the dead,
watching over the mummy’s eternal sleep.
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Of particular note in this room are the four canopic vases belonging to an eminent individual, whose
offering table can also be seen (Musée du Louvre, Paris). With their stoppers featuring the four sons
of Horus, their quality indicates the importance of their owner. A special mention should go to a
“mythological” papyrus (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Egyptian and Near Eastern Collection,
Vienna), which is highly representative of the funerary texts of the 21 st Dynasty and consists of a
series of images in colours that remain very vivid, most of which are taken from the famous Book of
the Dead.
Room 5: In the tomb of the priest Ankhemmaat
After having taken items from various periods to exhibit the most beautiful funeral artefacts, we
continue our discovery of the realm of the dead in a third and last room, where we have chosen to
present a chronologically cohesive group (private collection) comprising the key objects that
accompanied the mummy of a man called Ankhemmaat, a priest working in Heracleopolis shortly
after the conquest of Alexander the Great. He has the honour of representing the richness of the
burial of a notable provincial towards the end of the Pharaonic Period. We can see here the familiar
objects, such as the mummiform coffin, the statue in the image of the god of the dead and the troop
of funerary servants, but there are also some new ones, such as the chest which replaces the usual
canopic jars and the cartonnage case applied directly to the mummy comprising two gilded masks
fitted one inside the other. The materials used in preparing this trousseau are relatively simple, but
the way in which they have been worked is of an exceptionally high quality, as indicated in particular
by the details on the coffin and the beautiful colours of the chest.
Room 7
Kings, eras and many images of pharaohs
The king was viewed as a mediator between man and the gods, but the Late Period has
paradoxically kept very few souvenirs of its kings or, more precisely, only traces that do not befit a
king's status. The pharaohs who succeeded to the throne of Horus after the Ramesses certainly have
nothing in common with the empire builders who created the prestigious Egypt during the 18 th and
19th dynasties, and even less in common with their glorious predecessors of the Old and Middle
Kingdoms of Egypt. On the contrary, they all – at home and abroad – tried to appear as defenders of
the pharaonic tradition even if their enthusiasm in taking on this role varied considerably from one
era to another, depending on their origins in particular. There remains very little trace of the temples
that they built or enlarged, but there are a whole host of statues bearing their effigy, in stone or
metal, which possibly show them in their role as "enforcer of rituals". The majority of what is left
today exists in fragments, mutilated bodies or heads without bodies, which can only be vaguely
attributed to a particular era if the name of the king has not been preserved.
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To bring to mind the beautiful representations of the last pharaohs, the exhibition has added six of
the most famous Ancient Egyptian royal heads to a relief with the image of a Libyan kinglet
(Brooklyn Museum, New York), including those attributed respectively to Apries and Amasis, which
belong to the Musée du Louvre and the Ägyptisches Museum in Berlin. Apart from the most recent of
the six, which is from the Ptolemaic era, the others are spread out over the 25 th, 26th and 30th
dynasties and, with the exception of the one from the Jacquemart-André Museum which is
associated with the start of the Horus-name of Psamtik II, none of the heads can be attributed with
certainty to a particular king. In addition to these well-known monuments there is a previously
unpublished account of exceptional interest. It is a sculptor's model (private collection) designed to
help form the head of a statue of an Achaemenid king as it appeared in Achaemenid Empire
illustrations. This pharaonic style object dating back to at least the 27th Dynasty shows this king with
a moustache and long beard as he is commonly portrayed on Persian monuments.
Room 8
The universe of gods
At the top of the hierarchy sit the gods and goddesses. They appear just above the glorified dead:
the king, his wife, his mother and his children. They take up residence in different temples of the
country appearing to merge into the statues in their image, which are conserved in the furthermost
part of each sanctuary. The Late Period has left behind very few of these effigies, the only ones to
benefit from rites administered by priests, and the majority of many examples that have been
preserved for us are actually simple ex-votos. Consecrated by individuals in the accessible parts of
the temples, they take the form of earthenware, metal or wood figurines. If many of them were
indeed mass produced without any particular care, some of them – if they were dedicated by
someone of some importance – are of excellent craftsmanship, a simple confirmation of devotion
transformed into a real work of art. It is these exceptional pieces that make our exhibition,
dedicated to the most beautiful creations from the Late Period of Ancient Egypt, one that cannot
fail to attract interest by saving the last room for them.
Even if they do not claim to reflect the wealth of the era in any way, the fifteen or so pieces
retained can however bear witness to its diversity. First, our selection of the great national deities
shows ancient, local figures that events catapulted to the foreground. This was the case for Amun,
represented by a superb effigy in gold illustrating the quality of work in metal from the Libyan Period
(Metropolitan Museum of Arts, New York), and also for Bastet, whose cult centred in the city of
Bubastis, who became the god of the Dynasty which was based there. We see her appearing as a
charming cat "Gayer Anderson" (British Museum, London), a recent celebrity from the Late Period.
Appearing alongside her is her aggressive counterpart, represented by different objects, including a
golden aegis (Walters Art Museum, Baltimore), showing the daughter of Re this time as a formidable
lioness.
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Next comes the most important group: the deities exclusively connected to a town that also
includes Ptah of Memphis, Heryshaf of Herakleopolis, also present in the form of an effigy in gold
from the Third Intermediate Period (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) and Thoth of Hermapolis, who is
often depicted as a man with the head of an ibis (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna) or a baboon
(Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna). This group also includes some figures whose popularity rose
throughout the Late Period, resulting in them being venerated in different places. One example is
Osiris, possibly appearing in Busiris as Andjety (Archaeological Collections, Southampton), the ancient
local god whose image he adopted as his own, but also in Herakleopolis as the child-god known as
Sematawy, shown both seated on a throne (Fondation Gandur pour l’Art, Geneva), or crouching on a
lotus flower (private collection).
We hope that at the end of the visit, punctuated with different masterpieces allowing the art
produced in the Late Period of Ancient Egypt to finally be appreciated at its true value, you can look
back more favourably and with greater interest over the last ten centuries of pharaonic history.
Olivier Perdu
Curator of the exhibition
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Over the ten centuries preceding the Roman conquest in 30 BC, Egypt experienced many upheavals
and was invaded on a number of occasions.
Libyan dynasties
After the 21st Dynasty of Tanis (1069-945 BC), the head of the powerful Libyan tribe of Meshwesh,
long since established in Egypt, was crowned and founded the 22nd Dynasty. The Libyan kings who
shaped the 22nd, 23rd and 24th dynasties remained in power for two and a half centuries (945-720 BC).
This period is marked by internal conflicts that ended up in the division of land.
The Kushite pharaohs
The kings of Napata (present-day Sudan) gradually extended their influence over Egypt where they
eventually became known as the kings of the 25th Dynasty. It was during this half century of their
domination over Egypt that the archaistic tendencies were in full swing: the works of art therefore
make reference to the art of ancient times and mainly to products from the Old and Middle
Kingdoms of Egypt.
The Saite renaissance
Taking advantage of the fact that the Assyrians had driven the Kushite kings out of Egypt, Psamtik I,
king of Sais who belonged to the 26th Dynasty, succeeded in overthrowing the other local heads who
where dividing up the Delta. At the end of the first decade of his reign, in 656 BC, he was ready to
assert his power over the whole of Egypt. Thanks to this reunification, the country enjoyed a new
era of prosperity that was to last one hundred and fifty years.
The start of the Persian domination and the last native dynasties
Defeated by the Persian armies in 525 BC, Egypt had to submit to the authority of the Achaemenid
kings: it was now just a province of the Persian Empire. The difficult successions of the Achaemenid
kings led to various uprisings that brought native kings to the Egyptian throne, such as Amyrtaeus II
of Sais, the sole king in the 28th Dynasty, soon replaced by the kings of the 29th Dynasty. This line was
however quickly removed from the throne and replaced by the 30th Dynasty, started by Nectanabo I,
an important figure in the army. This king and his descendants succeeded in protecting Egypt from
the return of the Persians for almost half a century (380-343 BC), which gave them time to revive
the production of art and focus on architecture in particular.
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The second Persian Period, Macedonian and Ptolemaic Egypt
After defeating Nectanabo II in Pelusium, the Persian Artaxerxes III became the Great King of Egypt.
This second Persian domination, more brutal and less accommodating with the population than
the preceding one, lasted ten years (342-332 BC). Undermined by internal strife, the Persian Empire
was not able to resist the armies of Alexander the Great for long, who seized Egypt in 332 BC. After
his death in 323, general Ptolemy I Soter I was appointed satrap before being crowned king in 305
BC. Egypt therefore passed from its Macedonian era into the Ptolemaic Dynasty. This Dynasty ended
in 30 BC after the Battle of Actium, fought between the forces of Octavian and the combined forces
of Mark Antony and Cleopatra VII.
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Chronology
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In 1987, Michel Dewachter published an article on Egyptian collections kept in the academies and
establishments of the Institut de France, and a surprising discovery was made – the existence of a
collection in the two sites of the Jacquemart-André foundation, and, it seems, some pieces of the
very highest quality. However, this discovery deserved to be detailed, which we are finally able to
do with the Twilight of the Pharaohs exhibition.
By consulting the Museum's archives, we were able to identify two trips to Egypt, the first in 1894
and the second in 1901. Furthermore, the valuable series of bills revealed a previously unknown fact,
which is not without interest: during her second trip, Nélie Jacquemart made her purchases in Cairo
in particular. She made her most significant purchases of Egyptian antiques on her first trip, between
January and March 1894, when she was accompanied by her husband, Édouard André. This was their
last trip together, as Édouard André died shortly after.
We know some more about this journey thanks to copies of correspondence of their loyal secretary,
Mr. Cadore, and we can follow their journey from Port Said to Cairo, then to Luxor, the capital, and
to Aswan. These journeys took place in the best conditions, even though reference was often made
to Édouard André's health. At every stage, they always visited the best-known antique shops,
particularly Dingli, one of the pillars of international trade of this type of antique, and made
numerous purchases. We can conclude that here, as elsewhere, they wanted the best. They would
bring back a hundred pieces from this trip, small items such as parts of monumental sculpture which
were first deposited at the museum on boulevard Haussmann. A previously unpublished event took
place in 1897, with Nélie Jacquemart offering fifty-five pieces to the Louvre museum. Then in 1902,
she withdrew fifteen newly acquired works again which were to be transported to the Abbaye Royale
de Chaalis. In the light of these three collections, we can now appreciate Nélie Jacquemart's interest
in Pharaonic Egypt. It becomes apparent from this review that Nélie Jacquemart mainly bought
pieces belonging to the 'Late Period', which precisely corresponds to our exhibition. However, we
can imagine that this choice depended on the resources of the art market, and not on a specific
taste for the creations of the last millennium, which would have been very surprising, given that
Egyptology still considered this period as that of the decline of the Pharaonic empire. Here we find
mostly heads, which reflects her well-known interest in portraits, a genre which she painted before
she was married. From this point of view, the choices that she made are remarkable and her nearly
complete series of Psamtik portraits has an undeniable aesthetic quality. It is therefore not surprising
that large encyclopaedias on Egyptian art always use one of these pieces as an illustration.
18
As Nélie Jacquemart had no other experience in this subject, this trait is a new demonstration of her
true nature, a collector at heart, as Édouard André had been. It should make us pay the closest
attention to the merest of her purchases, which were more impulses than reasoned choices.
Whilst it is true that the whole collection is smaller than collections kept in our large museums, it
perfectly introduces the project led by Olivier Perdu, a specialist of the period who kindly made his
experience available to us in order to offer the public the most up-to-date research in Egyptology.
However, no-one could maintain that this millennium, which was politically troubled, marked by
major invasions and the continuing decline of indigenous dynasties, was that of an artistic decline.
Nicolas Sainte Fare Garnot
Curator of the Jacquemart-André Museum
19
The RMN displays can be reproduced as a quarter-page. Reproductions in a larger format are subject
to the payment of reproduction rights. For payment of reproduction rights, contact Mrs Vladana
Jonquet at [email protected].
The works affected by this measure are the following: Statue of Nakhthorheb, kneeling (page 20),
Other nude female figure (page 22), Top of a statue of a Ptah-Sokar devotee (page 22) and
Fragmentary statue of Amun (page 27).
In the permanent collections
Statue of Nakhthorheb, kneeling
Middle of the twenty-Sixth dynasty (664-525 BC)
Hermopolis-Baqlieh, temple of Thot probably
Silicified sandstone, 148,5 cm (H) x 54 cm (W) x 68 cm (D)
Paris, Louvre Museum – Department of Egyptian Antiquities
Inv. A 94
© Musée du Louvre, Dist. RMN/Patrick Leroy
20
In the exhibition
Egypt of a thousand faces
Berlin Green Head
st
Ptolemaic Period (332-30 BC) and probably 1 century BC
Unkown origin. Greywacke, 23 cm (H)
Ägyptisches Museum, Berlin
Berlin, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung, donation: James Simon.
Inv. 12500
© SMB Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung, Foto : Sandra Steiß
21
Other nude female figure
th
26 dynasty, Reign of Nechao II (610-595 BC). Unkown origin.
Silver, 24 cm (H) x 5,6 cm (W) x 5,4 cm (D)
New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Theodore M. Davis
Collection, Bequest of Theodore M. Davis, 1915
Inv. 30.8.93
© The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Dist. RMN/ image of MMA
Statue of a queen, standing
rd
nd
Ptolemaic Period (3 century or 2 century BC)
Unknown origin, greywacke
68,5 cm (H) x 19 cm (W) x 14 cm (D)
Berlin, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Ägyptisches Museum und
Papyrussammlung. Inv. 21763
© SMB Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung, Foto: Sandra
Steiß
Top of a statue of a Ptah-Sokar devotee
th
th
End of the 26 dynasty (664-525 BC) or beginning of the 27 dynasty
(525-404 BC).
Memphis
Greywacke, 25,4 cm (H) x 18,4 cm (W) x 12,1 cm (D)
Louvre Museum, Paris – Department of Egyptian Antiquities
Inv. N 2454
© Musée du Louvre, Dist. RMN / Les frères Chuzeville
Theophoric standing statue of Tasheretptah
th
25 dynasty (722-655 BC). Unknown origin.
« Bronze » with inlays, 30,8 cm (27,8 cm without the tenons)
(H) x 9 cm (W) x 8,2 cm (D)
Private collection
© D.R. / Paul Louis
Statue-cube of Padishahédédet
th
Beginning of the 26 dynasty (664-525 BC)
Memphis, temple of Ptah
Basalt, 50.5 (H) x 19 cm (W) x 34,7 (D)
Paris, Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux-Arts in Paris – stored at
the Louvre Museum. Inv. DUT 307
© Patrick Pierrain / Petit Palais / Roger-Viollet
Fragmentary “Dattari” standing statue
30th dynasty probably (380-342 BC)
Diorite, 51,2 cm (H) x 16,7 cm (W) x 14 cm (D)
New York, Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
Inv. 52.89
© Brooklyn museum 52.89 Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
22
Sitting statue of Bes
th
26 dynasty, reign of Psammetichus I (664-610 BC)
Bouto, Horus temple
Compact limestone
32,2 cm (H) x 20,9 cm (W) x 23,6 cm (D)
Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon
Inv. 158
© Fondation Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbonne – Photo : Catarina Gomes Ferreira
The kingdom of the dead
Ushabti from Psamtik, son of Sébakhérit
End of the twenty-Sixth dynasty (664-525 BC)
Memphite necropolis, Saqqara
Blue earthenware
18,5 cm (H)
British Museum, Londres
Inv. EA 66822
© The Trustees of the British Museum
Funerary stela of Paesheres
End of the 26th dynasty (664-525 BC)
Memphite necropolis
Polychrome limestone, 43 cm (H) x 23 cm (W)
Vienne, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Ägyptisch –
Orientalische Sammlung
Inv. ÄS 185
© Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
Statue of Ptah-Sokar-Osiris of Padihorpakhered
Ptolemaic Period (332-30 BC)
Unknown origin
Plastered and painted wood
97 cm (H) x 15,5 cm (W) x 36,5 cm (D)
Firenze, Museo Egizio. Inv. 3707
© Foto Soprintendenza Beni Archeologici della Toscana
23
Viscera chest of Ankhemmaat
th
4 century BC
Late necropolis of Heracleopolis Magna (Abousir el-Melek)
Plastered and painted wood
64,5 cm (H) x 38,3 cm (W) x 40,5 cm (D)
Private collection
© D.R. / Paul Louis
Death mask of Ankhemmaat
th
4 century BC
Late necropolis of Heracleopolis
Magna (Abousir el-Melek)
Gold-plated and painted cartonnage
36 cm (H) x 21,5 (L) x 29 (D)
Private collection
© D.R. / Paul Louis
Mummiform inner coffin of Ankhemmaat
th
4 century BC
Late necropolis of Heracleopolis Magna (Abousir el-Melek)
Plastered wood, gilded and painted
195 cm (H) x 56 cm (W) x 42 cm (D)
Private collection
© D.R. / Paul Louis
24
Pharaohs
Statue head attributed to Nectanebo I
th
30 dynasty (380-342 BC)
Unknown origin
Greywacke
38.5 cm (H)
British Museum, London
Inv. EA 97
© The Trustees of the British Museum
25
Statue of a Kushite king kneeling
and offering two pots
th
Attributed to the 25 dynasty (722-655 BC)
Memphis (?),
« Bronze », 22,5 cm (H) (20,5 cm without the tenons)
Berlin, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Ägyptisches
Museum und Papyrussammlung. Inv. 2504
© SMB Ägyptisches Museum und
Papyrussammlung, Foto: Jürgen Liepe
Head of Ptolemy II
Beginning of the Ptolemaic Period (332-30 BC)
Granite (?). Unknown origin. 28,5 cm (H)
Baltimore, Walters Art Museum. Inv. 22.109
Photo © The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore
The universe of gods
Gayer-Anderson cat,
representation of Bastet
th
Probably 26 dynasty
(664-525 BC)
Unknow origin
“Bronze” with silver inlay and gold rings
42 cm (H) (34 cm without the tenons) x
13cm (W) x 23 cm (D)
British Museum, London
Inv. EA 64391
© The Trustees of the British Museum
26
Statue of Bes
th
th
th
7 century BC (25 – 26 dynasties)
Assour (Qal’at Cherqat, Iraq)
Molten glass or “earthenware”
16,5 cm (H) x 8,5 cm (W) x 2,2 cm (D)
Berlin, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Ägyptisches
Museum und Papyrussammlung. Inv. 22200
© SMB Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung,
Foto: Jürgen Liepe
Fragmentary statue of Amun
Libyan Period (around 800 BC)
Unknown origin, gold
17.5 cm (H) x 4,7cm (W) x 5,8cm (D)
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase,
Edward S. Harkness Gift, 1926. Inv.26.7.1412
© The Metropolitan Museum of Art,
Dist. RMN/ image of MMA
Statue of Thoth represented as an Ibis
th
Late Period (dated 6 century BC)
Unknown origin
Wood, silver, glass, stucco
28,8 cm (H) x 8,7 cm (W) x 22,2 cm (D)
Vienne, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Ägyptisch –
Orientalische Sammlung.
Inv. ÄS 10073
© Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
Statue of Sematawy on a lotus
Late Period (664-332 BC)
Heracleopolis Magna probably
« Bronze » and gold
24,5 cm (H). Base : 2,9cm (H) x 6,2cm (W) x 11,7cm (D)
Private collection
© D.R. / Paul Louis
Aegis with counterweight
Libyan Period (943-722 BC)
Unknown origin
Gold
7 cm (H) x 6,57 cm (W)
Inv. 57.540
Baltimore, The Walter Arts Museum, Maryland
Photo © The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore
27
Culturespaces produces and manages, with an ethical and professional approach, monuments,
museums and prestigious historic sites entrusted to it by public bodies and local authorities. These
include the Jacquemart-André Museum in Paris, the Ephrussi de Rothschild and Kerylos Villas on the
French Riviera, the Roman Theatre of Orange, the Château des Baux de Provence, the Carrières de
Lumières, the Nîmes Arena, the National Automobile and Train Museums in Mulhouse and the
Waterloo Battlefield.
In 20 years, in close collaboration with curators and art historians, Culturespaces has organised many
temporary exhibitions of international standing in Paris and in the regions. Culturespaces manages
the whole chain of production for each exhibition, in close collaboration with the public owner, the
curator and the exhibition sponsor: programming, loans, transport, insurance, set design,
communications, partnership and sponsorship, catalogues and spin-off products.
Today Culturespaces works with some of the most prestigious national and international museums
in the world.
Recent exhibitions organised at the Jacquemart-André Museum:
2011 Fra Angelico ans the Masters of Light – 250,000 visitors
2011 The Caillebotte brothers’ private world. Painter and photographer – 220,000 visitors
2010 Rubens, Poussin and 17th century artists – 150,000 visitors
2010 From El Greco to Dalí. The great Spanish masters. The Pérez Simón collection – 200,000 visitors
2009 Bruegel, Memling, Van Eyck… The Brukenthal Collection – 240,000 visitors
2009 The Italian Primitives. Masterpieces of the Altenbourg Collection – 160,000 visitors.
2008 Van Dyck – 200,000 visitors
2007 Fragonard – 200,000 visitors
2006 The Thracians’ Gold – 150,000 visitors
28
The Curatorial Team
Mr Olivier Perdu,
an Egyptologist connected to the Chair of Egyptology of the Collège de
France.
Specialist in the Late Period of Ancient Egypt, Olivier Perdu is the author of various studies that
appear in specialist journals concerning its history, texts and monuments. His research into the field
has led to him participating in several conferences and symposia, and collaborating in several pieces
of collective work, including the recent Companion to Ancient Egypt (Blackwell, 2010), where he
retraces the evolution of Egypt during the Late Period. After having taught his specialism at the École
du Louvre from 1983 to 2000 and publishing the catalogue of the Egyptian collection at the Musée de
Picardie in Amiens in 1994 with Elsa Rickal, he is currently completing the catalogue of private Late
Period statues from the Egyptian department at the Louvre, the first volume of which currently being
printed. In addition to being vice-president of the Société Française d’Égyptologie (French Society of
Egyptology), he has managed the Revue d’Égyptologie since 2009, the first French journal in this field.
Nicolas Sainte Fare Garnot,
an art historian specialising in seventeenth-century French
painting, has been curator at the Jacquemart-André Museum since 1993. Since his appointment, he
has reorganised the distribution of the collections according to the original programme and has
initiated various restoration and inventory campaigns. Together with Culturespaces he has helped to
create a new dynamic within the Museum by bringing his scientific approach to bear on temporary
exhibitions whose subjects offer an opportunity to get to know the artists contained in the
permanent collections.
The scenography
To highlight the main themes of art from the last Egyptian Dynasties, Hubert le Gall has designed a
scenography that is contemporary, clean and elegant.
Hubert Le Gall, born in 1961, is a French designer, creator and sculptor of contemporary art. His
work has formed the subject of numerous exhibitions throughout Europe. Since 2000 he has
produced original scenographies for exhibitions, including:
2011 Jacquemart-André Museum, Paris – Fra Angelico and the Masters of Light
2011 Musée Maillol, Paris – Pompeii, a way of life
2011 Jacquemart-André Museum, Paris – The Caillebotte brothers’ private world. Painter and
photographer
2011 Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris – Odilon Redon, prince of dream
2011 Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris – Aimé Césaire, Lam, Picasso
29
2011 Musée Maillol, Paris – Miró sculpteur
2010 Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris – Monet
2010 Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris – France 1500, from the Middle Ages to the
Renaissance
2010 Jacquemart-André Museum, Paris – Rubens, Poussin and the 17th century artists
2010 Musée d’Orsay, Paris – Crime and Punishment
2010 Musée Jacquemart-André, Paris – From El Greco to Dalí. Les grands maîtres espagnols. La
collection Pérez Simón
2009 Musée d’Orsay, Paris – See Italy and Die. Photography and Painting in 19th Century Italy
2009 Musée du Luxembourg, Paris – Louis Comfort Tiffany. Colors and Light
2009 Jacquemart-André Museum, Paris – Bruegel, Memling, Van Eyck… The Brukenthal collection
2009 Jacquemart-André Museum, Paris – The Italian Primitives. The Altenburg collection
30
The exhibition site www.crepusculedespharaons.com
- Clear and detailed descriptions of major works.
- Large-format images for appreciating works in the tiniest detail.
- The opportunity to learn more about the exhibition through audio podcasts and photo reports.
- Regular quizzes to win catalogues and tickets for the exhibition
Tour commentary on iPhone/iPad and Android
This tour guide, available in French and English, offers a full
introduction, audio commentary on selected works and
exclusive audio bonuses that look behind the scenes of the
exhibition (bonuses are present only on the French version).
The variety of content (video, audio, image) and smooth “cover
flow” navigation make this an indispensable tool for a detailed
tour of the exhibition.
The Jacquemart André Museum offers on-site downloading facilities without the need for a 3G
connection thanks to Wi-Fi access dedicated exclusively to downloads from App Store.
Audio guide
An audio guide describing a selection of major works is available in 2 languages (French and English)
and costs € 3.
Visitor’s booklet
Available at the entrance to the Museum, this booklet takes you around the
exhibition step by step, with a general presentation of each room and detailed
commentary on the major works to enhance your visit.
On sale at the museum ticket office for €2.
For the little ones: the activity booklet
Offered free of charge to every child who visits the exhibition, this booklet is a
guide for young children that explains the main works of art in the exhibition in
an entertaining way through different mystery words and various puzzles to be
solved. Produced by: Au clair de ma plume
31
The catalogue
A 240-page catalogue has been produced for the exhibition by the
Jacquemart-André Museum and the publisher Fonds Mercator. Richly
illustrated, it includes all the works exhibited and provides a detailed
commentary on each one. Accompanied by an in-depth historical
introduction and detailed chronology, it allows visitors to continue their
discovery of the art from the Late Period of Ancient Egypt.
On sale at the cultural gift shop for € 39.
Connaissance des Arts – special edition
Connaissance des Arts has dedicated a special edition to the exhibition. This
special edition presents the main works in the exhibition and touches on the
major trends that marked artistic development in Egypt over the first
millennium BC.
On sale at the cultural gift shop for € 9,5.
Figaro special edition
In this special edition on the exhibition, the Figaro Magazine recounts the
splendours of Egyptian art from the last dynasties and makes special efforts to
put the masterpieces presented at the Jacquemart-André Museum back into
the context of their creation.
On sale at the cultural gift shop for € 7,9.
The "Journal de l’expo" – Beaux Arts magazine
Based on the major themes presented in the exhibition, the "Journal de l’expo"
has compiled a presentation of Egypt from the first millennium BC, highlighting
the quality and diversity of artistic production throughout this period.
On sale at the cultural gift shop for € 4,8.
32
GDF Suez, sponsor of the exhibition
A great sponsor of the Jacquemart-André Museum, GDF SUEZ is the partner of the exhibition The Twilight
of the Pharaohs which reveals the treasures of the final pharaonic dynasties for the first time; an
opportunity to promote access to culture for all and the protection and promotion of heritage.
Protecting and promoting heritage with an innovative skills sponsorship managed by GDF SUEZ: renovation
of the air-conditioning in the exhibition rooms in the Jacquemart-André Museum. The work was carried out
by the teams in the Energy Services division of the Group as part of a skills sponsorship to meet the needs
of preserving and presenting the works of art. As a result, over 250,000 visitors were able to enjoy the
works of Fra Angelico and the Masters of Light in optimal conditions last autumn and as many will be able
to discover more than 100 exceptional pieces in the exhibition The Twilight of the Pharaohs.
Cultural access for all: the GDF SUEZ Foundation organises many visits for the children of the associations
that it sponsors, giving them a chance to discover an exhibition and an exceptional location.
This exhibition is also the occasion to highlight the extraordinary heritage of Egypt, a country which is home
to part of the roots and history of the GDF SUEZ Group.
In 1859 the teams of the Universal Suez Ship Canal Company mobilised know-how, technological
innovations, capital and public and private partners to link the East and the West. The first private company
licensed to provide a major public service, the Suez Canal Company reinvented the organisation of building
sites and built real urban centres equipped with essential infrastructure: water, energy, etc.
Today the Group is present in Egypt in the energy and environmental sectors. It has built more than 60
industrial and drinking water treatment plants in Egypt. 70% of the population of Greater Cairo enjoy
quality water thanks to the water treatment infrastructure developed and managed by our specialists. The
Group works in hydrocarbon exploration and production. The Group concluded a 20-year contract for the
purchase of Egyptian liquefied natural gas through its participation in the liquefaction plant in Idku.
GDF SUEZ is today a global player in the areas of energy and the environment. Its 220,000 employees
provide essential services every day. Acting as a bridge between the corporate world and its various
audiences, the company's sponsorship policy marks the concrete involvement of the Group, illustrates the
values it possesses that are devoted to the common interest and bears witness to its social commitments.
Gérard MESTRALLET
C.E.O of GDF SUEZ
33
France 3 is proud to be associated with the Jacquemart-André Museum
fort the “Twilight of the Pharaohs. Masterpieces of the last Egyptian
dynasties“ exhibition.
The ambition of the public group France Télévisions is to bring culture to
life and make it accessible and intelligible to the masses while satisfying
the curiosity and wishes of all audiences.
Committed to this ambitious policy, France 3, the local channel, is
endeavouring more than ever to promote cultural diversity and above all
the rich French and European artistic heritage.
A supporter of all culture, France 3 carries out its mission through many
regular and overarching programmes such as the "Des racines et des ailes"
series, "Passion patrimoine", the debates on "Ce soir (ou jamais!)", filmed
operas, shows or plays - not forgetting the cultural news featured in the
national and regional news bulletins.
Thanks to Culturebox, Internet users can access videos about all the
cultural and artistic events around France and share comments and their
favourites.
France 3 will be at the event at the Jacquemart-André Museum to pay
tribute to the quality and richness of this exhibition which it is happy to
partner.
www.francetelevisions.fr
Following its support of “Fra Angelico and the Masters of Light” and “From
El Greco to Dalí. The great Spanish masters. The Pérez Simón collection"
exhibitions last season, France Inter continues the adventure by
supporting the new exhibition at the Jacquemart-André Museum entitled
“The Twilight of the Pharaohs. Masterpieces of the last Egyptian
dynasties“.
This is the first time an exhibition unveils the treasures of the last thousand
years in Egypt. Sculptures, reliefs, sarcophagi, death masks, items of
worship ... Over one hundred exceptional pieces fill the Jacquemart-André
Museum.
France Inter has therefore chosen to form a partnership with this
exhibition to help its listeners discover, or rediscover, the richness and
diversity of Egyptian artistic creation after the Ramesses. An event to
discover, experience and explore on the airwaves of France Inter and on
the Internet.
www.franceinter.fr
34
Paris Match has been a partner of the Jacquemart-André Museum for
many years. This loyalty to cultural commitments unites the magazine
with the teams at the Museum and at Culturespaces.
The passion for the "human adventure" is one of the values that has been
driving the editorial agenda of Paris Match for more than 60 years.
The exhibition “The Twilight of the Pharaohs. Masterpieces of the last
Egyptian dynasties” opens the doors to ancestral culture that boasts such
astonishing modernity that it continues to be relevant today.
www.parismatch.com
Music, exhibitions, films, theatre, literature: Le Parisien reviews all the
latest cultural events every day in its "Culture, loisirs" section,
and every weekend in Le Parisien, the reader heads off to discover the
greatest exhibitions and most wonderful museums.
It seems natural for Le Parisien to be a partner of the exhibition "The
Twilight of the Pharaohs" in one of the most symbolic museums of Paris,
the Jacquemart-André Museum.
www.leparisien.fr
Every Thursday, France’s leading news magazine, Le Nouvel Observateur
supplies comment on the latest political, economic and cultural news. It
analyses and deciphers what happens in society and predicts the
consequences.
Its supplement, TéléCinéObs, contains the week’s TV listings, along with a
complete rundown of the latest films with rave and damning reviews
from the editors, not to mention pages of multimedia news.
Today we are pleased to announce the launch of our new monthly
supplement: Obsession. Discover all the current trends over 150 pages.
With the help of the best photographers and in original graphical settings
you will also discover the new trend-setters from the worlds of fashion,
music, cinema, contemporary art and digital culture.
Le Nouvel Observateur is delighted to be associated with the JacquemartAndré Museum and to be a partner to this beautiful exhibition.
http://tempsreel.nouvelobs.com
Visioloisirs / Visioscène is an audiovisual production company that works
in the area of video content broadcasting in various media (Internet,
public transport, etc.) for cultural sites, entertainment and theatrical
venues. Over the past few seasons, Visioloisirs / Visioscène has been
working with Culturespaces to bring the temporary exhibitions and
permanent collections of the Museum to the notice of the general public.
www.visioscene.com
35
Leading French distributor of leisure tickets and show tickets, every year
Fnac offers more than 60,000 events in France, Belgium and Switzerland:
museums, exhibitions, monuments, concerts, festivals, great shows,
theatre, comedy, dance, classical music, opera, cinema, sport, trade
shows/fairs, leisure parks, restaurants, leisure activities, etc. With 80
shops in France, its website, its telephone platform, its mobile website
and its Tick&live application for iPhone, Samsung Bada and Android, Fnac
allows you to reserve and obtain your tickets immediately. Fnac is also a
place where the public meets the artists: throughout the year, it organises
cultural meetings, debates and mini-concerts in its own Forums and
outside its walls. It associates itself with numerous events, thereby
fulfilling its role as both cultural player and promoter of curiosity.
By becoming a partner of the Jacquemart-André Museum, which is
hosting the “Twilight of the Pharaohs. Masterpieces of the last Egyptian
dynasties“exhibition, it is confirming its commitment to artistic creativity
and its determination to defend the right of everyone to access all types
of culture. www.fnac.com
The UGC Group is very proud and pleased to support the “The Twilight of
the Pharaohs. Masterpieces of the last Egyptian dynasties” exhibition at
the Jacquemart-André Museum. The one hundred works that make up
this magnificent exhibition recount the rich artistic talent in Egypt over
the ten centuries of invasions before the conquest by Alexander the Great
in 332 BC. Subject to Libyan, Nubian, Persian, Greek and then Roman
influence by turn, artistic production from this period developed while
retaining the taste for perfection that today arouses such emotion in
those who see it. It is the desire to arouse that same emotion in the
general public that has guided the UGC Group from the outset in
implementing a policy that promotes creation and diversity. This
partnership also demonstrates UGC's goal to help open up access to highquality works to a larger audience, as it does in the areas of cinema and
opera with Viva l’Opéra ! Created in 1971 through the association of
various regional networks of cinemas, UGC underwent rapid
development, becoming one of the largest European groups of cinemas
present today in all fields of the sector (screening, distribution and
production). UGC cinemas have 407 screens between them and
welcomed more than 34 million people in 2011.www.ugc.fr
36
The Jacquemart-André Museum,
the home of collectors from the late 19th century,
offers the public, in this temple of art, numerous works of art bearing the most famous signatures of:
▪ Italian Renaissance art: Della Robbia, Bellini, Mantegna, Uccello, etc.
▪ Flemish painting: Rembrandt, Hals, Ruysdaël, etc.
▪ French painting of the 18th century: Boucher, Chardin, Fragonard, Vigée-Lebrun, etc.
together with significant items of furniture, indicative of Édouard André and Nélie Jacquemart’s taste
for the decorative arts.
This collection, unique in terms of both its quality and the diversity of the works it contains, boasts
exceptional visitor facilities which make it accessible to everyone. With more than 2 million visitors
since it reopened in March 1996, the Jacquemart-André Museum is one of the top museums in Paris.
The André mansion very quickly became the Jacquemart-André mansion, so great was the role which
Nélie Jacquemart was able to play in its evolution and development. This mansion and its collections
appear today as the legacy which this wealthy and childless couple, who dedicated their lives to the
finest aspects of art, wished to leave to posterity.
The beneficiary of this asset, the Institut de France, has since strived to ensure that Nélie
Jacquemart’s wishes are respected and to introduce her lovingly compiled collections to as many
people as possible.
Today there are fifteen magnificent exhibition rooms, the most intimate of reception rooms, still
exquisitely decorated, occupying almost 1,000 m2, which are open to visitors to the JacquemartAndré Museum.
The restoration and renovation work undertaken in 1996, with a view to reopening to the public, was
intended to make, as far as possible, the mansion feel like a home, so that visitors would find
themselves surrounded by the warmth of a living, welcoming, rather than educational, setting.
Art, the lifeblood of Édouard and Nélie André, enabled this pair of collectors to gather, in just a few
decades, almost 5,000 works, many of which are of exceptional quality.To satisfy their eclectic tastes,
the Andrés were able, with rigour and determination, to call on the greatest antiques dealers and
traders, travel the world in search of rare objects, spend considerable sums of money on
masterpieces, sacrifice second-rate pieces - and sometimes even return them to the seller - in order
to be true to their criteria of excellence, which makes the Jacquemart-André mansion a top
international museum.
Like the Frick Collection in New York, the Jacquemart-André Museum combines presenting an
exceptional 19th century collectors’ house with visitor facilities which meet the expectations of
people today. Owned by the Institut de France, the Jacquemart-André Museum has been
developed and managed by Culturespaces since 1996.
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OPENING TIMES AND RATES
Open 365 days a year from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Permanent collection audio guide: free
Open every Monday and Saturday evening until 9 p.m.
Free for children under the age of 7, members and
The tea room is open every day from 11.45 a.m. to 5.30
staff of the Institut de France, journalists and tourism
p.m. Brunch Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
professionals.
Open every Monday and Saturday evening until 7 p.m.
Family Rate
The cultural gift and bookshop is open when the
Pay the admission charge for two adults and one child
museum is open, including Sundays.
and the second child gets in free (7 to 17 years).
Individuals
Groups
Full rate: € 11
Group visits are only subject to reservation:
Reduced rate: € 9.5 (students, children from 7 to 17,
[email protected]. Groups are
job-seekers)
not admitted to the exhibition rooms after 2.00 pm.
Exhibition audio guide: €3
ACCESS
Jacquemart-André Museum
158, boulevard Haussmann - 75008 PARIS
Tel.: +33 1 45 62 11 59
www.musee-jacquemart-andre.com
The Museum is located 400 meters from place Charles
de Gaulle-Étoile.
Metro: lines 9 and 13 (Saint-Augustin, Miromesnil
or Saint-Philippe du Roule)
RER: RER A (Charles de Gaulle-Étoile)
Bus: 22, 43, 52, 54, 28, 80, 83, 84, 93.
Car park: Haussmann-Berri
Station Velib: rue de Berri
The temporary exhibition rooms are not accessible to
people with reduced mobility.
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