Colosse monolithe d'Amenophis III, à Thèbes
May 9, 1850
Medium
Salted paper print from paper negative
Dimensions
Image: 7 11/16 × 6 1/4 in. (19.6 × 15.9 cm) Mount: 12 5/16 × 18 11/16 in. (31.2 × 47.5 cm) Frame: 20 x 16 in. (50.8 x 40.6 cm)
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gilman Collection, Gift of The Howard Gilman Foundation, 2005
Accession Number
2005.100.376.77
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the shadows of ancient Egypt with Maxime Du Camp's *Colosse monolithe d'Aophis III, à Thèbes*, captured on 9, 1850. This salted paper print from a paper negative—a pioneering calotype process—depicts the towering monolithic colossus of Amenhotep III in Thebes (modern Luxor). Standing as one of the largest single-block statues from Egypt's New Kingdom (c. 1390–1352 BCE), it exemplifies the pharaoh's divine power and architectural ambition, seated guardians that once flanked temple entrances. Du Camp, a French writer and photographer, documented this marvel during his 1849–1851 expedi...
About the Artist
Maxime Du Camp · 1822–present
Maxime Du Camp (1822–1894) was a pioneering French photographer and writer whose adventurous spirit and technical innovation bridged literature and visual art during the mid-19th century. Born in Paris on February 8, 1822, to a prosperous family—his father a successful surgeon—Du Camp received a solid bourgeois education at the Collège Bourbon (now Lycée Condorcet), where he cultivated interests i...