The Discovery of Egypt: Vivant Denon's Travels with Napoleon's Army

Dominique-Vivant Denon was a lover of the Empress Josephine, a compulsive collector, the first director of the Louvre museum and Bonaparte's adviser on artistic matters. Indeed, Denon was known as 'Napoleon's eye'. But the man who impressed the emperor with his courteous manners and his talent for pornographic drawing was also the primary force behind revealing Egypt's civilisation to an astonished Europe.

Invited to accompany Bonaparte during the French Expedition to Egypt - a staging post...