Capital, near the Jaffa Gate, Jerusalem (184. Jerusalem, près de la porte de Jaffa. chap.)
Medium
Daguerreotype
Dimensions
Image: 4 3/4 × 3 3/4 in. (12 × 9.5 cm)
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Mr. and Mrs. John A. Moran Gift, in memory of Louise Chisholm Moran, Joyce F. Menschel Gift, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 2016 Benefit Fund, and Gift of Dr. Mortimer D. Sackler, Theresa Sackler and Family, 2016
Accession Number
2016.609
Tags
Art Historical Context
Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey created this intimate daguerreotype in 1844 during his pioneering travels through the Middle East. As one of the earliest photographers to document Jerusalem, he captured architectural details such as this stone capital near the Jaffa Gate with remarkable precision. The small plate—measuring just 4¾ by 3¾ inches—reveals the crisp textures of carved stone against the ancient city’s weathered surfaces. Daguerreotypes, introduced only five years earlier, required long exposures and produced unique, mirror-like images on silvered copper. Girault de Prangey embr...
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 ...