Bernardino Drovetti
Encyclopedia
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
diplomat, lawyer, explorer and antiquarian, appointed by Napoleon as French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
consul
Consul
Consul was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Empire. The title was also used in other city states and also revived in modern states, notably in the First French Republic...
to Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
at a time when the country and its antiquities were being opened rapidly to European knowledge and acquisition. His methods were deplorable. If twenty alabaster vases were found in a tomb, he would see to it that half were smashed to bring up their price. He would break off the pyramidion (top portion) off of an obelisk
Obelisk
An obelisk is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape at the top, and is said to resemble a petrified ray of the sun-disk. A pair of obelisks usually stood in front of a pylon...
to make it easier to transport, etc. But statues of him were raised in his native Italy for services rendered in gathering together the magnificent works of Egyptian art and astonishingly beautiful papyri for Europe.
Early life
He was born in BarbaniaBarbania
Barbania is a comune in the Province of Turin in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 25 km north of Turin. It is in the middle of Malone river plain....
in the kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia
Piedmont-Sardinia
Kingdom of Sardinia or Sardinia, also Piedmont-Sardinia, Sardinia-Piedmont or Piemonte, refers to the states of the House of Savoy from 1720 or 1723 onwards, following the award of the crown of Sardinia to King Victor Amadeus II of Savoy under the Treaty of The Hague...
to Giorgio Francesco Drovetti and Anna Vacca Vittoria. His older brother Giuseppe was a lawyer and his younger brother Luigi was a priest. Nothing is known of his sister. He was schooled at the College delle Provincie
After graduating in Turin
Turin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
he joined the army in the (Hussars) which was incorporated into the French army. In the spring of 1801 Drovetti was War minister
Ministry of War
A Ministry of War or Ministry for War is an administrative, supply and services agency of an army, as opposed to the entire military establishment. Both Mexico and Brazil both still maintain a War Department for the support of their armies...
in Piedmont and Chief of Staff
Chief of Staff
The title, chief of staff, identifies the leader of a complex organization, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a Principal Staff Officer , who is the coordinator of the supporting staff or a primary aide to an important individual, such as a president.In general, a chief of...
to the Piemontese Division in the French army. Later that same year he also became a judge
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
in Turin.
Egypt
In 1803 Napoleon sent Drovetti and Matthieu de Lesseps to Egypt as diplomatic 'Commissioners for Foreign Relations' to monitor the complex situation. He dealt with the Ali PashaAli Pasha
Ali Pasha of Tepelena or of Yannina, surnamed Aslan, "the Lion", or the "Lion of Yannina", Ali Pashë Tepelena was an Ottoman Albanian ruler of the western part of Rumelia, the Ottoman Empire's European territory which was also called Pashalik of Yanina. His court was in Ioannina...
who acted as Viceroy
Viceroy
A viceroy is a royal official who runs a country, colony, or province in the name of and as representative of the monarch. The term derives from the Latin prefix vice-, meaning "in the place of" and the French word roi, meaning king. A viceroy's province or larger territory is called a viceroyalty...
for the Ottoman Turks
Ottoman Turks
The Ottoman Turks were the Turkish-speaking population of the Ottoman Empire who formed the base of the state's military and ruling classes. Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks is scarce, but they take their Turkish name, Osmanlı , from the house of Osman I The Ottoman...
. In 1815 he left the post of consul but remained in Egypt, traveling, excavating and dealing in antiquities. In 1829 he was reappointed as Consul General of France in Egypt.
Drovetti both traded antiquities and assembled his own collection, competing with rivals collectors such as Giovanni Belzoni and the British consul Henry Salt
Henry Salt
Henry Salt may refer to:*Henry Stephens Salt , English writer, campaigner for social reforms, and animal rights advocate*Henry Salt...
, and leading to disputes such as that of the obelisk
Obelisk
An obelisk is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape at the top, and is said to resemble a petrified ray of the sun-disk. A pair of obelisks usually stood in front of a pylon...
in Philae
Philae
Philae is an island in the Nile River and the previous site of an Ancient Egyptian temple complex in southern Egypt...
found at the temple of Abu Simbel
Abu Simbel
Abu Simbel temples refers to two massive rock temples in Abu Simbel in Nubia, southern Egypt on the western bank of Lake Nasser about 230 km southwest of Aswan...
.
Drovetti also traveled and dealt with collectors such as Jean-Jacques Rifaud, Frederic Cailliaud
Frédéric Cailliaud
Frédéric Cailliaud was a French naturalist, mineralogist and conchologist. He was born, and died, in Nantes.He travelled in Egypt, Nubia, and Ethiopia, collecting minerals and making observations...
, Robert Richardson
Robert Richardson
Robert Bridge Richardson, ASC is an American cinematographer. He has won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography twice, for his work on JFK and The Aviator...
, Alessandro Ricci, Enegildo Frediani, Carlo Vidua, Edouard Montule, Franz Christian Gau
Franz Christian Gau
Franz Christian Gau was a German architect and archæologist.In 1809 he entered the Académie des Beaux-Arts, Paris, and in 1815 visited Italy and Sicily...
, Linant de Belle Fund, Edme Jomard and Jean Dubois Ayme.
Rifaud and Cailliaud were his traveling companions in the early days, when they passed the second Cataract on the Nile and found the temple of Abu Simbel. Cailliaud was a French mineralogist, geologist and stone collector who Drovetti introduced to the Ali Pasha in order to gain a mandate to hunt for the emerald
Emerald
Emerald is a variety of the mineral beryl colored green by trace amounts of chromium and sometimes vanadium. Beryl has a hardness of 7.5–8 on the 10 point Mohs scale of mineral hardness...
mines of Ptolemy
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the...
.
Legacy
All of Drovetti's work was collected in the name of France, but he also sold antiquities to the highest bidder, and is reputed to have orchestrated exorbitantly high prices. In 1824, King Charles Felix of SardiniaCharles Felix of Sardinia
Charles Felix was the Duke of Savoy, Piedmont, Aosta and King of Sardinia from 1821 to 1831.-Early life:...
acquired much of the personal collection of Drovetti (5,268 pieces, including 100 statues, 170 papyri, stelae, mummies, and other items), these went to the University of Turin
University of Turin
The University of Turin is a university in the city of Turin in the Piedmont region of north-western Italy...
and formed the foundation for the Museo Egizio
Museo Egizio
The Museo Egizio is a museum in Turin, Italy, specialising in Egyptian archaeology and anthropology. It houses the world's largest and most comprehensive collection of Egyptian antiquities outside the Egyptian Museum in Cairo...
in Turin
Turin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
.
In popular culture
Drovetti was portrayed by Joseph LongJoseph Long (actor)
Joseph Long is an actor. He has appeared in numerous BBC television productions including Doctor Who, Ashes to Ashes, The Bill and East Enders, He has also appeared in film, for instance in The Life and Death of Peter Sellers as film director Carlo Ponti. He portrayed Bernardino Drovetti in the...
in the 2005 BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
docudrama Egypt.
Further reading
- Ronald T. Ridly, Napoleon's Proconsul In Egypt: The Life and Times of Bernardino Drovetti, Rubicon Press, 1998. ISBN 0-948695-59-5