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Lot Essay
The two present pastels were for many years in the private collection of Viscount Ferdinand de Lesseps, the French diplomat famous for building the Suez Canal across the Isthmus of Suez (1859-1869) in Egypt.
Lesseps was from a family of long distinguished in government service. Appointed Assistant Vice-Consul at Lisbon in 1825, he was sent in 1828 to Tunis and in 1832 to Alexandria, where he studied a proposal by one of Napoleon's engineers for a Suez Canal. At Alexandria, the survey report of J.M. Le Père, one of Napoleon's chief engineers, on the Isthmus of Suez, and his friendship with Muhammad'Ali, the Turkish Viceroy of Egypt, and his son Sa'id Pasha, led Lesseps to hope that he might one day finish the canal that Le Père had begun.
Like his father, Ferdinand was a diplomat and was appointed Consul at Cairo from 1833 to 1837, where he gained distinction in combating an outbreak of plague. This appointment was followed by two postings to the consulate in Alexandria. During this time Mohammed Ali was determined to transform Egypt into a strong, rich and modern country, a goal which his son further carried through when he became appointed Viceroy, or Khedive, of Egypt. Indeed, on November 30, 1854, Sa'id Pasha signed the first act of concession authorizing Lesseps to pierce the Isthmus of Suez. The first blow of the pickax was given by Lesseps at Port Said on April 25, 1859, and ten years later, on November 17 1869, the Suez Canal was officiallly inaugurated by the Empress Eugènie, who had been invited by the host of the celebrations, the Khedive Isma'il Pasha.
Lesseps was from a family of long distinguished in government service. Appointed Assistant Vice-Consul at Lisbon in 1825, he was sent in 1828 to Tunis and in 1832 to Alexandria, where he studied a proposal by one of Napoleon's engineers for a Suez Canal. At Alexandria, the survey report of J.M. Le Père, one of Napoleon's chief engineers, on the Isthmus of Suez, and his friendship with Muhammad'Ali, the Turkish Viceroy of Egypt, and his son Sa'id Pasha, led Lesseps to hope that he might one day finish the canal that Le Père had begun.
Like his father, Ferdinand was a diplomat and was appointed Consul at Cairo from 1833 to 1837, where he gained distinction in combating an outbreak of plague. This appointment was followed by two postings to the consulate in Alexandria. During this time Mohammed Ali was determined to transform Egypt into a strong, rich and modern country, a goal which his son further carried through when he became appointed Viceroy, or Khedive, of Egypt. Indeed, on November 30, 1854, Sa'id Pasha signed the first act of concession authorizing Lesseps to pierce the Isthmus of Suez. The first blow of the pickax was given by Lesseps at Port Said on April 25, 1859, and ten years later, on November 17 1869, the Suez Canal was officiallly inaugurated by the Empress Eugènie, who had been invited by the host of the celebrations, the Khedive Isma'il Pasha.