Cedars of Lebanon
c. 1870
Medium
Albumen print
Dimensions
Image/paper: 28 × 39.2 cm (11 1/16 × 15 7/16 in.); Mount: 48.9 × 62.9 cm (19 5/16 × 24 13/16 in.)
Classification
albumen silver print
Department
Photography and Media
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
102479
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
After settling in Lebanon in 1867, Félix Bonfils opened a photography studio, La Maison Bonfils, in Beirut. The studio’s photographers produced images across the Mediterranean and Middle East, supplying local tourists and European collectors with photographs illustrating biblical scenes, landscape views, and portraits of all kinds. Bonfils’s images project his allegiance to France, which backed the Maronites, a Christian community, in conflicts over Lebanese land and goods—including desirable ex...