Person

Capart, Jean

1877-1947

Belgian Egyptologist; he was born at Brussels, 21 February 1877, son of Alphonse C. and Alida Carbonelle; he was educated at the University of Brussels; he later studied Egyptology under Wiedemann at Bonn; he was appointed assistant Conservator in the Egyptian collections at the Musées Royaux du Cinquantenaire, Brussels, 1900, became Chief Conservator, 1925 and Director; under his regime the organisation of the museum was greatly improved and many important acquisitions made; he visited Egypt frequently and conducted excavations at Elkab, 1927-9, 1945, publishing reports in ASAE; in addition to his scientific works he contributed freely to the popular press and gave many public lectures which did much to stimulate and arouse interest in Egyptology not only in Belgium, but in many other countries he visited, notably England and USA; his speciality was Egyptian art on which subject he wrote many important books; in 1923 he conducted the Queen of the Belgians on a visit to Egypt and visited the Tomb of Tutankhamun while excavations were in progress, this so stimulated her interest that the Fondation Égyptologique Reine Élisabeth was established under his direction, 1923; with its fine library it has since become an important centre of research, and under its auspices many important publications have appeared including the journal, Chronique d'Égypte, which Capart managed to continue to publish even during the German occupation of Belgium; he also established Bibl. Aegyptiaca, 1932, and was in addition Professor at the University of Liège until 1929 and a Vice-Pres. of the EES whose Bibl. in JEA he edited for a time in the 1930s; from 1932 he was part-time Honorary Curator of Egyptology in The Brooklyn Museum, and from 1938 until his death Honorary Advisory ,Curator; his principal works were, Recueil de monuments égyptiens, 2 pts. 1902-5; Les débuts de l'art en Égypte, 1904; Primitive Art in Egypt, trans. by A. S. Griffith, 1905; Musées roy. du Cinq., Les antiquités ég. guide descriptif, 1905; Bulletin critique des religions de l'Égypte, 1905-1913; Une rue de tombeaux à Saqqarah, 2 vols 1907; L'art égyptien, 2 vols 1909-1911; Donation d'antiquités égyptiennes aux Musées roy. de Bruxelles, 1911; Abydos: le temple de Séti ler, étude générale, 1912; Les Monuments dits Hycsos, 1914; Un Roman vécu il y a 25 siècles: histoire des relations d'une famille sacerdotale ég. avec les prêtres du Temple de Teuzoi ... par Pétéisis fils d'Essemteu, 1914, Lecons sur I'art égyptien, 1920; Lectures on Egyptian Art, 1923; L'art égyptien: études et histoire, 3 vols. 1924-48; Egyptian Art: Introductory Studies, trans. W. R. Dawson, 1923; The Tomb of Tutankhamen trans. W. R. Dawson, 1923; Thebes: the glory of a great past, with M. Werbrouck, 1926; L'art égyptien, I: L'architecture, 1922; Documents pour servir à l'étude de l'art égyptien, 2 vols. 1927-32; Memphis à l'ombre des pyramides, with M. Werbrouck 4°, 1930; Propos sur l'art égyptienne, 1931; Makit: une histoire de souris au temps des pharaons, 1936; La beauté égyptienne - anthologie, 1942; Tout-ankh-amoun, with others, 1943; Le message de la vieille Égypte, 1944; Fouilles en Égypte. El Kab, 1946; Pour faire aimer l'art égyptien, 1949; he also edited the Wilbour letters 1936; he died in Brussels, 16 June 1947.

• Who Was Who in Egyptology (5th ed. 2019), 88-89 fig. (portrait).