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Visit to Egypt March 2024
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Luxor
'Travellers at Luxor' 1877


‘Resting among Egyptian ruins at evening’ 1875


'Arab Traders feeding pigeons near a Mosque' 1874
'Luxor on the Nile'
'A Camel train leaving Luxor, Egypt' 1874
You can just see the obelisk, minaret and mosque (Abu Haggag Mosque) and the end of the row of columns. The sand/ground level was a much higher level then than it is now. This is well-documented, also mounds of sand can be seen in the painting. This explains why only a small part of the top of the mosque roof is visible in the photos - Benwell would have had a higher viewpoint in the 1860s. Also, the 'capitals' of the columns have been eroded. I am standing in the approximate spot he made his drawings for the first four paintings from (looking from other direction in the last photo, below).
It has been fascinating following in Benwell's footsteps 160 years after he travelled in the region in the 1860s.
(more to follow).


Colossi of Memnon, Luxor West Bank (ancient city of Thebes)

'A Caravan passing the Colossi at Memnon, Thebes' 1876
The statues are clearly recognisable in Benwell's paintings. I was fortunate to get some photos from more or less the same angle. The statues were already eroded in the 1860s when Benwell visited them, and have been subject to more erosion since his time. Still, it is worth remembering they are around 3,400 years old.



'A Caravan passing the Statues of Memnon, Plain of Thebes' 1869

The Colossi of Memnon, 12 March 2024.
Great Sphinx of Giza, near Cairo

'The Great Sphinx of Giza' 1886 (or, 'Resting caravan in front of the Sphinx of Giza'; or, 'Halt by the Sphynx, Egypt')



'A Caravan with the Pyramids and Sphinx beyond' 1868
Kom Ombo

'Kom Ombo, Upper Egypt' 1876



'Eastern Merchants'

Philae
The photos below were taken on 14 March 2024. Note the design and shapes of the capitals at the top of the columns. The carved heads at the very tops of some of the columns are depicted clearly in the 'Carpet Dealers at Philae' painting.

'The Temple of Isis, Philae' 1877

'Carpet Dealers at Philae' 1885


Material researched and written by Dee Murray. Website compiled by Dee Murray. All rights reserved.
All images on this website are either scanned or photographed from the author’s own resources, appear with permission of owners/copyright holders, or are in the public domain in digital format via websites such as HathiTrust, Openlibrary.org, the Internet Archive (archive.org) or Google Books.