Mekhitarian, Arpag

Belgian Egyptologist of Armenian extraction; he was born at Tanta, Egypt, 24 Jan. 1911, son of Dikran M. and Rebega Djigamian; he emigrated with his family to Belgium in the 1920s; he studied under Capart who appointed him to the Fondation Egyptologique Reine Elisabeth, 1929 where he became a collaborator in the pharaonic section, 1931, assistant; 1932, Secretary, 1937 and finally Secretary-General, 1947¬94; Hon. Secretary-General from 1994; Member of the Administrative Council, 1970; he became curator of Islamic Art at the Musees Royaux d'Art at Brussels; he took part in the Belgian excavations notably at Elkab from 1937 and was resident in Egypt, 1940-6; he was particularly interested in Egyptian art;.he published La peinture egyptienne, 1954; German ed. Agyptische Malerei, 1954; English ed. Egyptian Painting, 1954, 1978; Introduction a l'Egypte, 1956; L'Egypte, 1964;with others, Les Chats des Pharaons, 1989; La misere des tombes thebaines, 1994; Abydos. Sacred Precinct of Osiris, 1998; he died in Brussels, 27 April 2004.

• Who Was Who in Egyptology (4th ed. 2012), 366 fig. (portrait).