Georgiana still remembered that the last time Lupe, the mayor of Brussels, had given her a genre painting by Jan Steen, she had assumed Brussels's artworks had been picked over until almost nothing remained, and that he had no choice but to use his own painting as a "substitute."
Yet as she and Saint-Hilaire wandered through the museum, they still discovered quite a few fine works. It was only that, in a museum themed around Ancient Egypt, they had become "supporting characters," and few people paid attention to these "commonplace" Renaissance artworks.
"How many Egyptian artifacts did you bring over?" Georgiana asked Saint-Hilaire.
"Not many. The vast majority of these exhibits were supplied by Belgium itself," Saint-Hilaire replied.
Georgiana was rather shocked. She had thought that the "Egyptomania" would not arrive until much later. She had not expected the Belgians to begin collecting so early.
"Grave robbers did not appear only in modern times, madam. In the ninth century, Caliph Ibn Tulun established a military force in Egypt devoted specifically to tomb robbing. They extensively looted the tombs of Egyptian pharaohs and Nubian black pharaohs. Those artifacts flowed through the Silk Road into the hands of the caliphs of the Abbasid Caliphate, and during the Crusades, they were brought back to Europe as spoils of war." Saint-Hilaire explained. "The Crusaders' first target was gold, then silver. Once Florence and Venice had these precious metals, they..."
"And Genoa," Dominic added from the side.
"Yes, and Genoa. Though the knights brought conquest and destruction with their weapons, they also brought large numbers of European merchants and travelers. They could buy items from pharaohs' tombs in the markets of Baghdad and Damascus as well," Saint-Hilaire said.
Georgiana nodded.
"Is that how you see the expeditionary army in Egypt as well?" Dominic asked Saint-Hilaire.