Robert Hay was born in Berwickshire, Scotland in 1799. In 1818, the navy brought him to Alexandria and it was there that he became inspired by Belzoni's work. He went to Egypt were he became a skilled artist and draughtsman. He worked in Egypt in the 1820s and 1830s and spent many years drawing the tombs and temples. Robert Hay married a former slave and she traveled with him on the rest of his expeditions.
The Scotsman Robert Hay inherited the family estate of Linplum. With that he employed a team of artist and architects to record monuments and artifacts of Egypt. At times this group included Joseph Bonomi, Frederick Catherwood, and William Lane. He became a meticulous draughtsman, demanding long hours and high standards and made sure of accurate recordings of his highly qualified team. All of the drawings, painting, plans, notebooks, and diaries were never published and are now housed in the British Library in London.
In 1826 Robert Hay made a number of drawings of the whole area of Qurna, including two stunning 360 degree panoramas for which he is famous. They were called `The Panoramas of Thebes'. Museums and libraries all over the world hold collections of the treasures, pictures, and other records from the Thebes/Qurna.
He sometimes would reside with his fellow colleague and good friend Wilkinson in a vaulted granary in the Ramesseum or rooms in the temple at Medinef Habu or a tomb in the Valley of the Kings. When he published his lithograph of Cairo it wasn't very popular at the time but it has become a very useful source to Egyptologist today.
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Written by: Shawn Laven, 2002