Harriet Cheney
British, 1771–1848
Unwrapping the Mummy
INV-5105
Harriet Cheney
British, 1771–1848before 1825
Unwrapping the Mummy
Harriet Cheney British, 1771–1848 →lithographprint
Date
before 1825
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.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Gift of Dr. Ira Frank
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.