The Gate of Rosetta in Alexandria is an original antique hand-colored aquatint It depicts a monumental 18th-century view of the historic city entrance in Egypt and published in London by Robert Bowyer between 1802 and 1805 as part of his renowned publication, Views in Egypt, Palestine, and Other Parts of the Ottoman Empire.The artwork captures the vibrant Orientalist architecture and daily life at the prominent Rosetta Gate, as well as nearby ancient fragments and mosques.
The original on-site drawings were made by the Italian artist Luigi Mayer in the late 18th century, who traveled through the Ottoman Empire for Sir Robert Ainslie.
The prints were engraved by Thomas Milton.
Thomas Milton (1743–1827), was a prominent British engraver. He is best known for his exceptional landscape prints and book illustrations, particularly his famous 1783–1793 series Views of Seats in Ireland.
Born in 1743 to a marine painter, he was descended from a brother of the famous poet John Milton. He lived and worked in Dublin (around 1783–1785) before returning to London, where he worked with Bowyer on the views of Egypt.
Luigi Mayer (1755–1803) was a prominent Italian-German painter and one of the most important late 18th-century European artists to document the Ottoman Empire. He created detailed paintings of panoramic landscapes, ancient ruins, and contemporary daily life across the Middle East and the Balkans.
When these drawings were brought to London, publisher Robert Bowyer hired Thomas Milton to oversee the monumental task of converting Mayer’s artwork into commercially available prints.
The most celebrated volume was Views in Egypt (1801), followed by Views in the Ottoman Empire and Views in Palestine (1804).
These publications offered western Europeans their very first highly detailed, vividly accurate look at Egyptian monuments (like the Pyramids and Sphinx), ancient Roman ruins, and Middle Eastern cultures just before the onset of modern archaeology.
Mayer was a student of the legendary Roman engraver Giovanni Battista Piranesi, from whom he inherited a strict precision for architectural detail. Unlike standard landscape artists of his day, Mayer meticulously included local figures, traditional clothing, and public life, giving his work immense historical and anthropological value.
