Médînet-Abou (Thèbes), Construction Antérieures - Vue Générale
1851–52, printed 1853–54
Medium
Salted paper print from paper negative
Dimensions
24.2 x 30.2 cm. (9 1/2 x 11 7/8 in.)
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace Gift, 1976
Accession Number
1976.607.34
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the sun-baked sands of ancient Thebes with Félix Teynard's *Médînet-Abou (Thèbes), Construction Antérieures - Vueérale*, a salted paper print captured during his 1851–52 expedition to Egypt printed around 1853–54. This 24.2 x 30.2 cm photograph offers a panoramic "general view" of the ruins at Medinet Habu, a sprawling temple complex on the Nile's west bank, famed for its New Kingdom structures linked to pharaohs like Ramesses III. Teynard, a pioneering French photographer working with Imprimerie Photographique de H. de Fonteny et Cie, masterfully frames the colossal stone remnants—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...