Arab men discovering an ancient tomb; Arab men discovering the interior of a pyramid

Luigi Mayer was a watercolorist and draftsman of German origin, who became well known for his accurate depictions of people and sites in the Near East. In 1786 Mayer was employed by the British ambassador to Constantinople, Sir Robert Ainslie, and traveled with him to the Eastern Mediterranean. After their return to England, between 1801 and 1810, many of Mayer’s watercolors were translated into print and published with great success. The first of these compositions was translated into print, with changes in the figures, by Thomas Milton, and published in 1801 in Views in Egypt, Palestine and Other Parts of the Ottoman Empire (volume 1, plate 6). The dramatic effects of the torches lit in the darkness of the pyramid powerfully convey the sense of wonder and mystery that the Egyptian antiquities evoked in the public of the time.