84. Tombeau du Sultan Tarabey

Art Historical Context

Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey’s 1843 lithograph “Tombeau du Sultan Tarabey” captures the quiet grandeur of a historic Egyptian tomb. Created during the artist’s extensive travels through the Middle East, the print reflects the nineteenth-century fascination with ancient and Islamic architecture. The large sheet size allows viewers to appreciate the monument’s intricate details and imposing scale, inviting contemplation of both its form and cultural resonance. As a lithograph, the work demonstrates an important reproductive technique of the period, enabling wider circulation of architectural studies that were otherwise accessible only through on-site sketches or early photographs. Although housed in the Metropolitan Museum’s Department of Photographs, the piece is classified as a print, highlighting the fluid boundary between these media in the 1840s. Acquired through the Joyce F. Menschel Photography Library Fund, it enriches the museum’s holdings of early visual records of the region. Girault de Prangey’s careful rendering combines documentary precision with an artistic sensitivity to light and texture. The resulting image offers today’s visitors a window onto both the monument itself and the era’s growing interest in preserving distant heritage through new graphic technologies.

About the Artist

Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey · 1804–1892

Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey (1804–1892), born in Langres, France, as the sole surviving child of Claude Joseph Girault and Barbe Philiberte Rosine Piétrequin, inherited the lordships of Genevrières and Prangey, adopting his full surname in 1825. After studies at Langres college and in Paris, where he earned baccalauréats in letters (1826) and law (1828), he pursued artistic training under ...