Lebolo, Antonio, 1781-1830

Person

Staff Only

Dates

Existence: 1781 - 1830

Biographical History

Antonio Lebolo (1781-1830) served as a Gernarme for the Napoleonic occupation for Italy and an excavator of various Egyptian sites for Bernardino Drovetti. While working in Egypt, he discovered many mummies which have been donated to organizations including the Egyptian Museum of Berlin and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Antonio Lebolo was born in Castellamonte, Italy in 1781. After serving as a Genarme for the Naopleonic occupation of Italy, once Napoleon was ousted from power in France, Lebolo eventually fled to Egypt, where he worked for French Consul-General of Egypt and antiques collector Bernardino Drovetti. While working for him, he managed to hold excavations in sites throughout Egypt including Luxor and Kamak, and through his excavations he uncovered various mummies and antiquities which were dispersed to the Egyptian Museum of Berlin and various businessmen. He passed away in 1830.

Three years after his death, Irish-American citizen Michael H. Chandler managed to obtain 11 of Lebolo's mummies by claiming to be his nephew. With the mummies he inherited, he not only displayed them in Pennsylvania and Ohio, but he eventually sold them to Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints founder Joseph Smith, Jr. in 1835.

Citation:

"Antonio Lebolo: Excavator of the Book of Abraham," 1991: p.3 (b. 1781)

Wikipedia, July 26, 2017 (Born in Castellamonte, Italy; served as a Genarme for the Napoleonic occupation of Italy; worked for Bernadino Drovetti, the French Consul-General of Egypt and antiques collector after the fall of Napoleon; excavated in sites like Luxor and Kamak; donated to the Egyptian Museum of Berlin and various businessmen; died in 1830; Michael H. Chandler eventually obtained 11 of Lebolo's mummies by claiming he was Lebolo's nephew; Chandler sold Lebolo's mummies to Joseph Smith in 1835)

Found in 2 Collections and/or Records:

New facts on the life and history of Giovanni Pietro Antonio Lebolo

File — Folder 1: [Barcode: 31197230306901]

Identifier: MSS SC 924

Scope and Contents

Thirteen photocopies of a typewritten manuscript and eighteen photographs of Italian documents all bound in one volume. The typescripts are Jorgensen's account of how he became interested in Lebolo, and of how he accomplished his research on the man. Lebolo was an Egyptologist of the early 19th century.

Dates: 1976

Found in: L. Tom Perry Special Collections

H. Donl Peterson research collection on the Book of Abraham

Collection — Multiple Containers

Identifier: MSS 2019

Scope and Contents Contains materials pertaining to the research of the Book of Abraham in the Pearl of Great Price conducted by H. Donl Peterson. Includes research files, photocopies of newspapers, materials from books, probate records, and genealogical information. Details the early exploration of Egypt from the 18th and 19th centuries and Antonio Lebolo’s travel and discovery of Ancient Egyptian antiquities and manuscripts, Michael H. Chandler’s acquisition of the lost mummies and papyri, and their...

Dates: 1964-1994