Louis-François Cassas (1756–1827), Vue de la tête colossale du Sphinx

The etching Vue de la tête colossale du Sphinx et de la 2ème Pyramide d'Egypte (View of the colossal head of the Sphinx and the second pyramid of Egypt), which was coloured in the Piranesi brothers' Paris chalcography studio, belongs to the "incunabula of European dreams of Egypt". It is emblematic of how the desire for a precise, true-to-detail portrayal – which would soon shape the principles of European scholarly disciplines like archaeology – came together with the traditional artistic conventions of European landscape painting.

Louis-François Cassas (1756–1827): Vue de la tête colossale du Sphinx et de la 2ème Pyramide d'Egypte, coloured etching, ca. 19th century, 88 x 65 cm; source: © Tours, musée des Beaux-Arts, cliché P. Boyer.