The Pyramids of Saqqara, from the Northeast
Medium
albumen print from wet collodion negative
Dimensions
image: 38.2 × 47.7 cm · matted: 61 × 76.2 cm
Classification
Photograph
Department
Photography
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of Charles Isaacs in honor of Louis and Martha Isaacs
Accession Number
1996.19
Tags
About this artwork
Frith was the first photographer in Egypt to successfully use the wet collodion process, introduced in 1851. Its glass plate negatives yielded sharper, more detailed images than paper ones. He even created mammoth plate prints, as this size is called, which required equally large glass plate negatives. Pursuing the process’s exacting chemistry in Egypt’s scorching sunlight was trying. Frith sometimes sought refuge in tombs for the cool air and darkness to process his plates. “Pushing myself back...