After Pisa he visited Leghorn, where was lodged the Drovetti collection,
which was afterwards purchased for the Berlin Museum, by the special
advice of Lepsius. The owner had asked sixty thousand francs, and got
thirty thousand. Amongst the monuments was the Colossus of Rameses II,
and the valuable fragment of the statue of Usurtasen I. (throne and
legs). This is now restored and is the great ornament of the Egyptian
collection in the capital city of the empire. It may be seen, from a
letter which Lepsius wrote to Bunsen about the collection, that the
fragment of the statue of Usurtasen I. had only been brought to Europe
by Drovetti in order to restore with it the slightly injured colossus of
the same king. The fragment consisted of the same “black granite”
(properly graywacke) as the better preserved statue of Rameses II.
In May, 1836, Lepsius at last arrived in Rome, richly laden with
treasures. There, for the first time, he met Charles J. Bunsen, who had
directed his attention towards Egyptian antiquity, and had assisted him
with fatherly kindness during his residence in Paris. Bunsen was at that
time living on the Tiber as Prussian Ambassador, under the title of
Minister Resident. He presided as chief secretary over the
Archaeological Institute, which had been founded by Gerhard, with his
assistance, in 1829. Ten years before the arrival of Lepsius,
Champollion had visited Rome, and found there an enthusiastic admirer
and disciple in Bunsen. Absorbed in numerous affairs, and in other
branches of research,[24] the latter could devote but a small portion
of his time to Egyptological studies. In Lepsius he believed that he had
found the right man to continue the work of Champollion with greater
success, and in a more profound and independent spirit, than the
Master’s two disciples, Salvolini and Rosellini. He also hoped that
Lepsius would be specially fitted to take charge of the business of
recording secretary of the Institute in conjunction with Braun. For this
he had already proved his ability in Paris.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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