Giovanni Battista Belzoni

Image credit: National Portrait Gallery, London

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Italian-born Belzoni moved to England in 1803 where he found work for a time as a strongman, actor and conjuror at fairs and theatres around the country. He travelled to Egypt having persuaded Mehmet Ali, Pasha of Egypt, that he could build a water-wheel superior to the traditional Egyptian machine. He built the wheel, but the Pasha rejected it and Belzoni was left destitute. John Lewis Burckhardt then employed Belzoni to remove the colossal bust of Ramesses II and transport it to England. This led to a third career for him as an Egyptologist, and he went on to excavate at Thebes, uncover four new tombs in the Valley of the Kings and discover the entrance to the second pyramid at Giza.

National Portrait Gallery, London

London

Title

Giovanni Battista Belzoni

Date

c.1820

Medium

oil on canvas

Measurements

H 86.7 x W 69.9 cm

Accession number

829

Acquisition method

Given by Humphrey Wood, 1890

Work type

Painting

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