Karnak (Thèbes), Palais - Salle Hypostyle - Colonnade Centrale - Décoration d'un Fut
1851–52, printed 1853–54
Medium
Salted paper print from paper negative
Dimensions
25.0 x 16.3 cm. (9 13/16 x 6 7/16 in.)
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace Gift, 1976
Accession Number
1976.607.54
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the vast Hypostyle Hall ofak Temple in Thebes—ancient Egypt's grandest religious complex—Félix Teynard captured intricate decoration of a central colonnade capital in this 1851–52 salted paper print, made from a paper negative and issued by Imprimerie Photographique de. de Fonteny et around 1853–54. Measuring just 25 x 16.3 cm, this modest photograph belies the monumental scale of its subject: towering papyrus-bundle columns up to 21 meters high, adorned with densely carved hieroglyphs and reliefs honoring gods like Amun. Teynard, a pioneering French photographer, joined the wave of 19th-c...
About the Artist
Félix Teynard|Imprimerie Photographique de H. de Fonteny et Cie · 1817–1892
**Félix Teynard (1817–1892)** was a pioneering French photographer whose work captured the ancient wonders of Egypt and Nubia with unprecedented precision and artistry. Born on January 14, 1817, in Saint-Flour, he trained as a civil engineer in Grenoble, a hub of Egyptology that likely sparked his fascination with ancient architecture. Little is documented about his early life or formal photograph...