Portico of the Temple of Cerf Hossayn, Nubia
1857
Medium
Albumen print, pl. 38 from the album "Egypt and Palestine, Volume II" (1858/60)
Dimensions
Image/paper: 15.8 × 23.5 cm (6 1/4 × 9 5/16 in.); Album page: 29.6 × 42.7 cm (11 11/16 × 16 13/16 in.)
Classification
albumen silver print
Department
Photography and Media
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
158005
Art Historical Context
In 1857, British photographer Francis Frith captured majestic Portico of the Temple off Hossayn in Nub, a region spanning ancient Egypt and Sudan, as plate 38 in his renowned album *Egypt and Palestine Volume II* (published 1858–60). Frith, a pioneering figure in travel photography, ventured into remote areas with cumbersome large-format cameras during multiple expeditions, producing some of the earliest detailed images of Middle Eastern antiquities. This albumen silver print, measuring 15.8 × 23.5 cm, showcases the temple's grand entrance with its weathered columns and hieroglyphic carvings, ...
About the Artist
Francis Frith · 1822–1898
Francis Frith (1822–1898) was born on 7 October 1822 in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, into a prosperous Quaker merchant family as the second child and only son of Francis Frith Sr. and Alice Walker. Educated at Quaker schools including Ackworth and Camp Hill in Birmingham from around 1828 to 1838, he apprenticed in the cutlery trade before establishing himself as a wholesale grocer in Liverpool, suppl...