Theodore M. Davis

[2] After becoming wealthy in a career in the law and business, he moved to Newport, Rhode Island in 1882 where he built a mansion known as "The Reef" (later "The Bells") on Ocean Avenue, on property which is now Brenton Point State Park.

In the winter of 1915 he did not go to Egypt for health reasons and instead rented the Florida home of William Jennings Bryan, then Secretary of State.

He died there on February 23, 1915 aged 76, leaving the Davis Madonna[5] and his private collection of Egyptian artifacts to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

[6] During this period excavations were conducted in his name by the inspector-general of antiquities for Upper Egypt (Howard Carter from 1902 to 1904, and James E. Quibell for the 1904-1905 season).

Burton later recalled that when Davis terminated his last excavation in the valley, out of fear of undercutting nearby tombs and pathways, he was only two metres away from discovering the entrance to KV62.

[14] In Luxor, fellow Rhode Islander Charles Wilbour introduced Davis to antiquities dealer Muhammad Mohassib on their first trip up the Nile in 1890.