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Portrait of a man in a turban, said to be a self-portrait of the Egyptologist Giovanni Belzoni
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SM XP31. ©Sir John Soane's Museum, London. Photo: Art UK
Unidentified artist
Portrait of a man in a turban, said to be a self-portrait of the Egyptologist Giovanni Belzoni
c.1835-40
Oil on panel
Height: 25.4cm
Width: 19.7cm
Width: 19.7cm
Inscription: None
Museum number: XP31
Not on display
Curatorial note
This work was presented to the Museum as a 'self-portrait' of Giovanni Belzoni, the Egyptologist but is not thought to be authentic.
Professor Jason Thompson considers that this is certainly not a portrait of Giovanni Belzoni, who although a good amateur artist could not not have produced a portrait of this quality. It bears no resemblance to any known portrait of Belzoni. There is some resemblance to the celebrated Egyptologist Sir John Gardner Wilkinson (1787-1875), whose portrait by Henry Wyndham Philips is at Calke Abbey, Derbyshire (National Trust).
Professor Jason Thompson considers that this is certainly not a portrait of Giovanni Belzoni, who although a good amateur artist could not not have produced a portrait of this quality. It bears no resemblance to any known portrait of Belzoni. There is some resemblance to the celebrated Egyptologist Sir John Gardner Wilkinson (1787-1875), whose portrait by Henry Wyndham Philips is at Calke Abbey, Derbyshire (National Trust).
Presented by Bernard Donaldson, 1939
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