1923
watercolor
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
The Exorcist is a 1923 watercolor by Fortunino Matania, a Art Nouveau work, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.
You see a robed priest waving smoke over a dying pharaoh while servants wail around him. This watercolor was made for a magazine just weeks after King Tut’s tomb was opened. The artist never saw the tomb—he just imagined what an exorcism might look like in ancient Egypt. The bright colors and dramatic poses were meant to grab readers’ attention on a newsstand. Look up the technique called *sfumato* to see how other artists softened edges the way Matania did here.
This illustration by Fortunino Matania, titled *Pharaoh Falls III - The Exorcist is called in*, appeared in *The Sphere* magazine on February 24, 1923, as part of a series depicting the imagined final journey of an Egyptian pharaoh. The scene shows a necromancer attempting to exorcise an evil spirit possessing the dying ruler, but the pharaoh succumbs despite the charms and incantations. Created shortly after Howard Carter’s discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb, the work reflects the period’s fascination with ancient Egypt. Matania, an Italian historical painter and illustrator, contributed to…
Read the full account in the museum source.
Chevalier Fortunino Matania was an Italian artist noted for his realistic portrayal of World War I trench warfare and of a wide range of historical subjects.
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