Tombeaux Musulmans à Siout
1849–50
Medium
Salted paper print from paper negative
Dimensions
Image: 6 5/16 × 8 9/16 in. (16 × 21.7 cm) Mount: 12 5/16 × 18 11/16 in. (31.2 × 47.5 cm)
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gilman Collection, Gift of The Howard Gilman Foundation, 2005
Accession Number
2005.100.376.29
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the mid-19th century, writer and photographer Maxime Du Camp into Egypt alongside his friend Gustave Flaubert, capturing the ancient wonders and everyday scenes of the Nile Valley during their 1849–50 expedition. *Tombeaux Musul à Siout* (Muslim Tombs at Asyut) is one such gem from this journey, depicting the serene, dome-topped tombs of a Muslim necropolis in the city of Siout (modern Asyut). This salted paper print from a paper negative showcases hauntingly beautiful architecture against a stark landscape, offering visitors a window into Egypt's layered Islamic heritage amid its pharaonic...
About the Artist
Maxime Du Camp · 1822–present
Maxime Du Camp (1822–1894) was a pioneering French photographer and writer whose adventurous spirit and technical innovation bridged literature and visual art during the mid-19th century. Born in Paris on February 8, 1822, to a prosperous family—his father a successful surgeon—Du Camp received a solid bourgeois education at the Collège Bourbon (now Lycée Condorcet), where he cultivated interests i...