Unwrapping the Mummy

Description

Harriet Cheney learned how to make lithographic prints under the tutelage of Dominique-Vivant Denon, the diplomat, explorer, and director of the Musée du Louvre. This print by Cheney, showing a curious gathering in Denon’s Paris apartments, was once misinterpreted as depicting the autopsy of a monkey. What is actually taking place is the unwrapping of a mummy acquired by Denon on his Egyptian travels; Harriet can be seen, midsketch, at lower left.

Unwrapping the Mummy

Harriet Cheney

before 1825

Accession Number

51058

Medium

Lithograph in black on ivory wove paper

Dimensions

Image: 27.5 × 36.5 cm (10 7/8 × 14 3/8 in.); Sheet: 30.8 × 38.6 cm (12 3/16 × 15 1/4 in.)

Classification

lithograph

Museum

The Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, United States

Credit Line

Gift of Dr. Ira Frank