Karnak (Thèbes), Palais - Partie Posterieure - Fragment de Colonnades Vu du Point S
Photography was scarcely a decade old when Félix Teynard set out for Egypt in 1851, equipped with a large-format camera and the paper-negative technique perfected only the year before in Paris by Gustave Le Gray. A civil engineer who practiced in Grenoble, Teynard visited Egypt expressly to make a photographic companion to Description de l’Egypte, the lavish publication issued by Napoleon’s team of savants between 1809 and 1829. Teynard understood that the engravings in the book, however grand, were inadequate; they could not compete with photography’s direct apprehension of the visual experience of a place.
Teynard’s ouvre consists exclusively of the one hundred and sixty plates of his book, Egypte et Nubie (1853-58) which reveal an uncommon grasp of the physicality of man-made constructions: their size and placement in space, their materials and decoration, and their state of conservation, destruction, or desecration. Here, the papyrus columns, like new plant shoots emerging from resourceful roots, seem less a study of architecture than the very picture of survival.
Teynard’s ouvre consists exclusively of the one hundred and sixty plates of his book, Egypte et Nubie (1853-58) which reveal an uncommon grasp of the physicality of man-made constructions: their size and placement in space, their materials and decoration, and their state of conservation, destruction, or desecration. Here, the papyrus columns, like new plant shoots emerging from resourceful roots, seem less a study of architecture than the very picture of survival.
Artwork Details
- Title: Karnak (Thèbes), Palais - Partie Posterieure - Fragment de Colonnades Vu du Point S
- Artist: Félix Teynard (French, 1817–1892)
- Printer: Imprimerie Photographique de H. de Fonteny et Cie
- Date: 1851–52, printed 1853–54
- Medium: Salted paper print from paper negative
- Dimensions: 23.9 x 30.6 cm. (9 7/16 x 12 1/16 in.)
- Classification: Photographs
- Credit Line: Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace Gift, 1976
- Object Number: 1976.607.62
- Curatorial Department: Photographs
More Artwork
A slider containing 5 items.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.
Félix Teynard
1851–52
Félix Teynard
published 1851
Félix Teynard
published 1851
Félix Teynard
1851–52
Félix Teynard
1851–52
Research Resources
The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.