Miner Kilbourne Kellogg, born Manlius - Medinet El Harbor, Thebes - unknown - T-Shirt

A pencil study of the temple at Medinet Habu on the Theban west bank, drawn on site and dated January 1844, places a monumental Egyptian pylon and columned court against a bare desert range.

Visual Elements & Composition

The sheet is rendered almost entirely in graphite line over a parchment-cream ground, with the grey of the pencil doing nearly all the work. A tall, stepped pylon rises at the left edge, while a low enclosure wall runs across the foreground. At the centre, a columned court with bundled-papyrus capitals sits between a broad gateway block. Rough ground and scattered stones fill the lower part of the sheet, and a line of hills closes the view to the right. The handwritten inscription at the upper right reads "Medinet el Haboo - Thebes - Jan 20 1844," giving the drawing its date and place.

Meaning & Symbolism

Medinet Habu was the mortuary temple of the New Kingdom pharaoh Ramesses III, built to honour the king and sustain his cult after death. Its gateways and columned courts were among the best-preserved monuments on the Theban west bank, and records like this one captured the scale of ancient Egyptian royal building for European travellers who came up the Nile in the 1840s. Kellogg, an American painter born in Manlius, New York, made this sheet on that journey. The fine, even line and open wash of the sky are typical of the travel studies he drew on site, which later fed his finished paintings.

Made for the Everyday Wearer

Printed on a tee, this view of the temple stays flat and legible across the chest, so the columns and pylon read at a glance. The drawing's quiet, still composition suits a shirt worn for the day, and its dated inscription gives the wearer a clear sense of where and when the monument was recorded.