Karnak, Temple du Sud
c. 1854
Medium
salted paper print
Dimensions
image/sheet: 23.3 × 30.3 cm (9 3/16 × 11 15/16 in.) mount: 39.7 × 56.3 cm (15 5/8 × 22 3/16 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Paul Sack
Accession Number
2016.185.2
Art Historical Context
In the mid-19th century, photography emerged as a revolutionary tool for documentation, American-born archaeologist photographer John Beasley Greene to Egypt, capturing the grandeur of ancient sites with pioneering precision. *Karnak, Temple du Sud* (c. 1854) depicts a section of the vast Karnak Temple complex in Luxor, one of the largest religious structures ever built, dedicated to the god Amun. Greene's image freezes the monumental columns and hieroglyph-adorned walls of the southern temple, offering visitors a window into pharaonic Egypt just as European explorers were rediscovering its wo...