Afterword

Abstract

The papers in this volume have considered the reception, translation, transcription, and appropriation of Classical and Ancient Egyptian architecture in spaces of dwelling from the mid-eighteenth to late twentieth centuries. A complex picture emerges from these diverse analyses that points to future avenues for research. Most fundamentally, these essays demonstrate that scholars should approach much of the reception of ancient architecture not solely through a Neoclassical or Neo-Egyptian lens, but also through that of the Neo-Antique. Broader in concept, a Neo-Antique framework encourages us to make connections between the silos of knowledge, specifically here the Neoclassical and the Neo-Egyptian, to understand that the processes guiding the reception of Classical and Egyptian architecture were often similar, and part of the larger reception of antiquity in Europe and the United States. The Neo-Antique framework also challenges established conceptions of the Neoclassical’s limitations—an aristocratic and elite, derivative phenomenon—and redefines it as diverse, innovative, and original. These essays demonstrate that interest in ancient architecture was not limited to the civic and/or public sphere, but rather, that ancient architecture appealed to a wide range of patrons, architects, and artists in their creation of dwelling places—from dining rooms and bedrooms to tombs and gardens....