Fête de S. A. Ismaïl Pacha à bord des bateaux de LL. A A. les princes, janvier 1867
1867
Medium
Albumen silver print from paper negative
Dimensions
Image: 30.6 x 40.2 cm (12 1/16 x 15 13/16 in.) Mount: 50 x 64.8 cm (19 11/16 x 25 1/2 in.)
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gilman Collection, Gift of The Howard Gilman Foundation, 2005
Accession Number
2005.100.191
Tags
Art Historical Context
In 1867, French photographer Gustave Le Gray captured lavish naval celebration in *Fête de S. A. Ismaïl Pacha à bord des bate de LL. A A. les princes*, honoring Ismail Pasha, the Khedive of Egypt This albumen silver print from a negative depicts an opulent gathering aboard royal yachts, likely part of a grand review blending Egyptian splendor with European influences during Ismail's ambitious modernization of his realm. The image evokes the era's diplomatic pomp, where Egypt's ruler hosted princes—possibly from European courts—to showcase naval power amid Suez Canal projects. Le Gray, a pione...
About the Artist
Gustave Le Gray · 1820–1884
Gustave Le Gray, born on August 30, 1820, in Villiers-le-Bel near Paris to a prosperous merchant family, pursued his artistic ambitions against his parents' wishes for a legal career. As an only child, he trained as a painter in the studios of François-Édouard Picot and Paul Delaroche at the École des Beaux-Arts, exhibiting at the Paris Salons in 1848 and 1853. In 1844, he married Palmira Leonardi...