ABSTRACT
Interest in Egyptian art was widespread throughout Italy during the second half of the 18th century. Even garden ornaments reflected an Egyptian style, and theorists emphasized the geometric simplicity, formal purity and architectonic immediacy of many Egyptian monuments. Egyptian designs were chosen for their aesthetic value and adapted to different contexts and purposes. In general, Egyptian or neo-Egyptian patterns found as garden ornaments can be explained as peculiar to an eclectic taste, and their presence reflects how receptive Italian – and in this specific instance Tuscan – architects were to such new trends originating from abroad, and from Enlightenment thought. Interest in Egyptian antiquities increased at the start of the 19th century as a result of Bonaparte's campaign. In 1803, during the Kingdom of Etruria established by Bonaparte, the funerary display of Ludovic I in the church of St Lawrence was built in Egyptian style: a columned porch with papyrus capitals, and a pyramid on the catafalque.
